DRAW, v.t. pret. drew; pp. drawn. [L. It is only a dialectical spelling of drag, which see.]

1. The act of drawing.
2. The lot or chance drawn.

1. To pull; to exert strength in drawing. We say, a horse or an ox draws well.
2. To act as a weight. Watch the bias of the mind, that it may not draw too much. – Addison.
3. To shrink; to contract into a smaller compass. – Bacon.
4. To move; to advance. The day draws toward evening.
5. To be filled or inflated with wind, so as to press on and advance a ship in her course; as, the sails draw.
6. To unsheathe a sword. His love drew to defend him. In this phrase, sword is understood.
7. To use or practice the art of delineating figures; as, he draws with exactness.
8. To collect the matter of an ulcer or abscess; to cause to suppurate; to excite to inflammation, maturation and discharge; as, an epispastic draws well. To draw back, to retire to move back; to withdraw. #2. To renounce the faith; to apostatize. – Heb. x. To draw near or nigh, to approach; to come near. To draw off, to retire; to retreat; as, the company drew off by degrees. To draw on, to advance; to approach; as, the day draws on. – Dryden. #2. To gain on; to approach in pursuit; as, the ship drew on the chase. #3. To demand payment by an order or bill, called a draft. He drew on his factor for the amount of the shipment. You may draw on me for the expenses of your journey. – Jay. To draw up, to form in regular order; as, the troops drew up in front of the palace; the fleet drew up in a semicircle. Draw, in most of its uses, retains some shade of its original sense, to pull, to move forward by the application of force in advance, or to extend in length. And Johnson justly observes, that it expresses an action gradual or continuous, and leisurely. We pour liquor quick, but we draw it in a continued stream. We force compliance by threats, but we draw it by gradual prevalence. We write a letter with haste, but we draw a bill with slow caution, and regard to a precise form. We draw a bar of metal by continued beating.

1. To pull along; to haul; to cause to move forward by force applied in advance of the thing moved or at the fore-end, as by a rope or chain. It differs from drag only in this, that drag is more generally applied to things moved along the ground by sliding, or moved with greater toil or difficulty, and draw is applied to all bodies moved by force in advance, whatever may be the degree of force. Draw is the more general or generic term, and drag, more specific. We say, the horses draw a coach or wagon, but they drag it through mire; yet draw is properly used in both cases.
2. To pull out, as to draw a sword or dagger from its sheath; to unsheath. Hence, to draw the sword is to wage war.
3. To bring by compulsion; to cause to come. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seat? – James ii.
4. To pull up or out; to raise from any depth; as, to draw water from a well.
5. To suck; as, to draw the breasts.
6. To attract; to cause to move or tend toward itself; as, a magnet or other attracting body is said to draw it.
7. To attract; to cause to turn toward itself; to engage; as, a beauty or a popular speaker draws the eyes of an assembly, or draws their attention.
8. To inhale; to take air into the lungs; as, there I first drew air; I draw the sultry air. – Milton. Addison.
9. To pull or take from a spit, as a piece of meat. – Dryden.
10. To take from a cask or vat; to cause or to suffer a liquid to run out; as, to draw wine or cider.
11. To take a liquid from the body; to let out; as, to draw blood or water.
12. To take from an oven; as, to draw bread.
13. To cause to slide, as a curtain, either in closing or unclosing; to open or unclose and discover, or to close and conceal. To draw the curtain is used in both senses. – Dryden. Sidney.
14. To extract; as, to draw spirit from grain or juice.
15. To produce; to bring, as an agent or efficient cause; usually followed by a modifying word; as, piety draws down blessings; crimes draw down vengeance; vice draws on us many temporal evils; war draws after it a train of calamities.
16. To move gradually or slowly; to extend. They drew themselves more westerly. – Ralegh.
17. To lengthen; to extend in length. How long her face is drawn. – Shak. In some similes, men draw their comparisons into minute particulars of no importance. – Felton.
18. To utter in a lingering manner; as, to draw a groan. – Dryden.
19. To run or extend, by marking or forming; as, to draw a line on paper, or a line of circumvallation. Hence,
20. To represent by lines drawn on a plain surface; to form a picture or image; as, to draw the figure of a man; to draw the face. Hence,
21. To describe; to represent by words; as, the orator drew an admirable picture of human misery.
22. To represent in fancy; to image in the mind. – Shak.
23. To derive; to have or receive from some source, cause, or donor; as, to draw the rudiments of science from a civilized nation; to draw consolation from divine promises.
24. To deduce; as, to draw arguments from facts, or inferences from circumstantial evidence.
25. To allure; to entice; to lead by persuasion or moral influence; to excite to motion. Draw me; we will run after thee. – Cant i. Men shall arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. – Acts xx.
26. To lead, as a motive; to induce to move. My purposes do draw me much about. – Shak.
27. To induce; to persuade; to attract toward; in a very general sense.
28. To win; to gain; a metaphor from gaming. – Shak.
29. To receive or take, as from a fund; as, to draw money from a bank or from stock in trade.
30. To bear; to produce; as a bond or note draws interest from its date.
31. To extort; to force out; as, his eloquence drew tears from the audience; to draw sighs or groans.
32. To wrest; to distort; as, to draw the Scriptures to one's fancy. – Whitgift.
33. To compose; to write in due form; to form in writing; as, to draw a bill of exchange; to draw a deed or will.
34. To take out of a box or wheel, as tickets in a lottery. We say, to draw a lottery, or to draw a number in the lottery.
35. To receive or gain by drawing; as, to draw a prize. We say also, a number draws a prize or a blank, when it is drawn at the same time.
36. To extend; to stretch; as, to draw wire; to draw a piece of metal by heating, &c.
37. To sink into the water; or to require a certain depth of water for floating; as, a ship draws fifteen feet of water.
38. To bend; as, to draw the bow. – Is. lxvi.
39. To eviscerate; to pull out the bowels; as, to draw poultry. – King.
40. To withdraw. [Not used.] – Shak. To draw back, to receive back, as duties on goods for exportation. To draw in, to collect; to apply to any purpose by violence. A dispute, in which every thing is drawn in to give color to the argument. – Locke. #2. To contract; to pull to a smaller compass; to pull back; as, to draw in the reins. – Gay. #3. To entice, allure or inveigle; as, to draw in others to support a measure. To draw off, to draw from or away; also, to withdraw; to abstract; as, to draw off the mind from vain amusements. #2. To draw or take from; to cause to flow from; as, to draw off wine or cider from a vessel. #3. To extract by distillation. – Addison. To draw on, to allure; to entice; to persuade or cause to follow. The reluctant may be drawn on by kindness or caresses. #2. To occasion; to invite; to bring on; to cause. Under color of war, which either his negligence drew on, or his practices procured, he levied a subsidy. – Hayward. To draw over, to raise, or cause to come over, as in a still. #2. To persuade or induce to revolt from an opposing party, and to join one's own party. Some men may be drawn over by interest, others by fear. To draw out, to lengthen; to stretch by force; to extend. #2. To beat or hammer out; to extend or spread by beating, as a metal. #3. To lengthen in time; to protract; to cause to continue. Thy unkindness shall his death draw out / To lingering sufferance. – Shak. Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? – Ps. lxxxiv. #4. To cause to issue forth; to draw off; as liquor from a cask. #5. To extract, as the spirit of a substance. #6. To bring forth; to pump out, by questioning or address; to cause to be declared, or brought to light; as, to draw out facts from a witness. #7. To induce by motive; to call forth. This was an artifice to draw out from us an accusation. – Anon. #8. To detach; to separate from the main body; as, to draw out a file or party of men. #9. To range in battle; to array in a line. To draw together, to collect or be collected. To draw up, to raise; to lift; to elevate. #2. To form in order of battle; to array. – Dryden. #3. To compose in due form, as a writing; to form in writing; as, to draw up a deed; to draw up a paper. – Swift. In this use, it is often more elegant to omit the modifying word. [See No. 33.]

1. To cause to move continuously by force applied in advance of the thing moved; to pull along; to haul; to drag; to cause to follow.
   
   

   He cast him down to ground, and all along
   Drew him through dirt and mire without remorse. Spenser.

   He hastened to draw the stranger into a private room. Sir W. Scott.

   Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? James ii. 6.

   The arrow is now drawn to the head. Atterbury.

2. To pull; to exert strength in drawing anything; to have force to move anything by pulling; as, a horse draws well; the sails of a ship draw well.
   
   

   * A sail is said to draw when it is filled with wind.

3. The act of drawing; draught.
4. To play (a short-length ball directed at the leg stump) with an inclined bat so as to deflect the ball between the legs and the wicket.
   
   
   (b) (Golf)
5. The result of drawing, or state of being drawn;
   
   
   specif.: (a)
6. To influence to move or tend toward one's self; to exercise an attracting force upon; to call towards itself; to attract; hence, to entice; to allure; to induce.
   
   

   The poet
   Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. Shak.

   All eyes you draw, and with the eyes the heart. Dryden.

7. To draw a liquid from some receptacle, as water from a well.
   
   

   The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. John iv. 11.

8. A lot or chance to be drawn.
9. To leave (a contest) undecided; as, the battle or game was drawn.
10. That which is drawn or is subject to drawing.
11. To cause to come out for one's use or benefit; to extract; to educe; to bring forth; as: (a) To bring or take out, or to let out, from some receptacle, as a stick or post from a hole, water from a cask or well, etc.
    
    

    The drew out the staves of the ark. 2 Chron. v. 9.

    Draw thee waters for the siege. Nahum iii. 14.

    I opened the tumor by the point of a lancet without drawing one drop of blood. Wiseman.

    (b)

12. To exert an attractive force; to act as an inducement or enticement.
    
    

    Keep a watch upon the particular bias of their minds, that it may not draw too much. Addison.

13. A drawn game or battle, etc.
    
    
    [Colloq.]
14. To remove the contents of
    
    
    ; as: (a)
15. To have efficiency as an epispastic; to act as a sinapism; -- said of a blister, poultice, etc.
16. That part of a bridge which may be raised, swung round, or drawn aside; the movable part of a drawbridge. See the Note under Drawbridge.
    
    
    [U.S.]
17. To take into the lungs; to inhale; to inspire; hence, also, to utter or produce by an inhalation; to heave.
    
    
    "Where I first drew air." Milton.

    Drew, or seemed to draw, a dying groan. Dryden.

18. To have draught, as a chimney, flue, or the like; to furnish transmission to smoke, gases, etc.
19. To extend in length; to lengthen; to protract; to stretch; to extend, as a mass of metal into wire.
    
    

    How long her face is drawn! Shak.

    And the huge Offa's dike which he drew from the mouth of Wye to that of Dee. J. R. Green.

20. To unsheathe a weapon, especially a sword.
    
    

    So soon as ever thou seest him, draw; and as thou drawest, swear horrible. Shak.

21. To run, extend, or produce, as a line on any surface; hence, also, to form by marking; to make by an instrument of delineation; to produce, as a sketch, figure, or picture.
22. To perform the act, or practice the art, of delineation; to sketch; to form figures or pictures.
    
    
    "Skill in drawing." Locke.
23. To represent by lines drawn; to form a sketch or a picture of; to represent by a picture; to delineate; hence, to represent by words; to depict; to describe.
    
    

    A flattering painter who made it his care
    To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are. Goldsmith.

    Can I, untouched, the fair one's passions move,
    Or thou draw beauty and not feel its power? Prior.

24. To become contracted; to shrink.
    
    
    "To draw into less room." Bacon.
25. To write in due form; to prepare a draught of; as, to draw a memorial, a deed, or bill of exchange.
    
    

    Clerk, draw a deed of gift. Shak.

26. To move; to come or go; literally, to draw one's self; -- with prepositions and adverbs; as, to draw away, to move off, esp. in racing, to get in front; to obtain the lead or increase it; to draw back, to retreat; to draw level, to move up even (with another); to come up to or overtake another; to draw off, to retire or retreat; to draw on, to advance; to draw up, to form in array; to draw near, nigh, or towards, to approach; to draw together, to come together, to collect.
27. To require (so great a depth, as of water) for floating; -- said of a vessel; to sink so deep in (water); as, a ship draws ten feet of water.
28. To make a draft or written demand for payment of money deposited or due; -- usually with on or upon.
    
    

    You may draw on me for the expenses of your journey. Jay.

29. To withdraw.
    
    
    [Obs.] Chaucer.

    Go wash thy face, and draw the action. Shak.

30. To admit the action of pulling or dragging; to undergo draught; as, a carriage draws easily.
31. To trace by scent; to track; -- a hunting term.
    
    

    * Draw, in most of its uses, retains some shade of its original sense, to pull, to move forward by the application of force in advance, or to extend in length, and usually expresses an action as gradual or continuous, and leisurely. We pour liquid quickly, but we draw it in a continued stream. We force compliance by threats, but we draw it by gradual prevalence. We may write a letter with haste, but we draw a bill with slow caution and regard to a precise form. We draw a bar of metal by continued beating.

    To draw a bow, to bend the bow by drawing the string for discharging the arrow. -- To draw a cover, to clear a cover of the game it contains. - - To draw a curtain, to cause a curtain to slide or move, either closing or unclosing. "Night draws the curtain, which the sun withdraws." Herbert. -- To draw a line, to fix a limit or boundary. -- To draw back, to receive back, as duties on goods for exportation. -- To draw breath, to breathe. Shak. -- To draw cuts or lots. See under Cut, n. -- To draw in. (a) To bring or pull in; to collect. (b) To entice; to inveigle. -- To draw interest, to produce or gain interest. -- To draw off, to withdraw; to abstract. Addison. -- To draw on, to bring on; to occasion; to cause. "War which either his negligence drew on, or his practices procured." Hayward. -- To draw (one) out, to elicit cunningly the thoughts and feelings of another. -- To draw out, to stretch or extend; to protract; to spread out. -- "Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?" Ps. lxxxv. 5. "Linked sweetness long drawn out." Milton. -- To draw over, to cause to come over, to induce to leave one part or side for the opposite one. -- To draw the longbow, to exaggerate; to tell preposterous tales. -- To draw (one) to or on to (something), to move, to incite, to induce. "How many actions most ridiculous hast thou been drawn to by thy fantasy?" Shak. -- To draw up. (a) To compose in due form; to draught; to form in writing. (b) To arrange in order, as a body of troops; to array. "Drawn up in battle to receive the charge." Dryden.

    Syn. -- To Draw, Drag. Draw differs from drag in this, that drag implies a natural inaptitude for drawing, or positive resistance; it is applied to things pulled or hauled along the ground, or moved with toil or difficulty. Draw is applied to all bodies moved by force in advance, whatever may be the degree of force; it commonly implies that some kind of aptitude or provision exists for drawing. Draw is the more general or generic term, and drag the more specific. We say, the horses draw a coach or wagon, but they drag it through mire; yet draw is properly used in both cases.

32. To sink in water; to require a depth for floating.
    
    
    "Greater hulks draw deep." Shak.

    To draw to a head. (a) (Med.) To begin to suppurate; to ripen, as a boil. (b) Fig.: To ripen, to approach the time for action; as, the plot draws to a head.