Word.ws English Dictionary

drawing on

drawing on is the present participle and gerund of draw on.

Meaning of draw on

Verb

draw on (third-person singular simple present draws on, present participle drawing on, simple past drew on, past participle drawn on)

  1. (literally) To sketch or mark with pencil, crayon, etc., on a given surface.
  2. (also draw upon) To appeal to, make a demand of, rely on; to utilize or make use of, as a source.
    • Without the proper resources, the young manager drew on his imagination to solve the crisis.
  3. To advance, continue; to move or pass slowly or continuously, as under a pulling force.
    • As the day draws on, the oxen will begin to show fatigue.
  4. To approach, come nearer, as evening.
    • Evening is drawing on; we'd better call it a day.
  5. (transitive) To put on (a garment).
    • He heard the silken rustle of a dressing-gown being drawn on.1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus
  6. (transitive) To draw the trigger of a gun, so as to fire upon (something).
    • I drew on the pheasant as it rose.

Questions about drawing on

What is drawing on the present participle and gerund of?
Drawing on is the present participle and gerund of draw on.

Words near drawing on in the dictionary

  1. drawing lines in the sand
  2. drawing lots
  3. drawing off
  4. drawing office
  5. drawing offices
  6. drawing on
  7. drawing one's horns in
  8. drawing one's last breath
  9. drawing out
  10. drawing pin
  11. drawing pins

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drawing on (page history and authors); draw on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “drawing on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drawing_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.