draught
part of speech
noun (a draught, draughts); draughts (UK game, plural noun); adjective (draught beer) — UK spelling; US: draft
meaning for a pupil
1) (UK) A current of cold air coming into a room: There's a draught from the window. tree →
2) (UK, draughts) A board game for two players with round flat pieces, called checkers in the US; a draught is one piece. tree →
3) A drink taken in one go or a big swallow: a long draught of water. tree →
4) (adjective) Beer served from a barrel, not a bottle: draught beer. tree →
5) The depth of water a ship needs to float. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand you «keep out the draught» with a draught excluder; children play draughts; in science a draught shows warm and cold air moving. Phrases: «a draught excluder», «play draughts», «feel a draught».
examples
- Close the door, there's a draught! tree →
- We played draughts on a rainy afternoon. tree →
- Grandma put a draught excluder by the door. tree →
- He took a long draught of cold water. tree →
- I've got 7 draughts left and you have 5. tree →
- Cold draughts make the house hard to heat. tree →
- "Moisten my tongue--bring me a refreshing draught." tree →
note
Say «draft». UK spelling «draught»; American spelling «draft» for air and drink, and Americans call the game «checkers». Do not confuse with «drought» (no rain for a long time, said «drowt»). «Draft» is also a first version of writing in all countries.
In the corpora
- Every evening she lies across Sam's bedroom door like a furry draught excluder.
- "protYah" means a draught, and many Ukrainian grannies close the windows because they believe a draught makes you ill.
- Colds are caused by viruses, not by a draught, but it is polite to respect the granny's worry.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «draught» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.