draft

draft, in banking

draft, in banking, order by one party to another party to pay a stated sum to the person or firm in whose favor the draft is made. It is similar in form to the ordinary bank check. Often the drawer and the drawee of a draft are the same person. A sight draft is payable immediately on presentation to the drawee; a time draft is payable at a fixed date in the future. A draft is sometimes known as a bill of exchange. It was originally devised to give credit to a customer who intended to pay in the future, but it came to be used to pay foreign debts (see foreign exchange) because it obviated the bother, expense, and risk of transmitting money. Apparently, drafts were used in early Babylon, Egypt, and Rome, but the earliest clear instance of their use is in Genoa c.1156. Drafts are usually used in commercial transactions in which buyer and seller are distant from each other. The seller draws a draft against the buyer of his goods and sends the draft, together with shipping documents, to his bank. The bank or its agent presents the draft to the buyer for his acceptance of the obligation or for payment. If, in the case of a time draft, the buyer accepts the obligation to pay, he will often put a note to that effect, along with his signature, on the draft. Such an accepted draft is known as a trade acceptance and represents a legal commitment on the part of the buyer to pay the amount stipulated.

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conscription

 or draft

Compulsory enrollment for service in a country's armed forces. It has existed at least since the Egyptian Old Kingdom in the 27th century BC. It usually takes the form of selective service rather than universal conscription. (The latter generally refers to compulsory military service by all able-bodied men between certain ages, though a few countries—notably Israel—have also drafted women.) In the 19th century Prussia's system of building up a large standing army through conscription became the model for competing European powers. During the American Civil War both the federal government and the Confederacy instituted a draft, but the U.S. did not use it again until entering World War I in 1917. Like the U.S., Britain abandoned conscription at the end of World War I but reverted to it when World War II threatened. During the ensuing Cold War, Britain retained the draft until 1960 and the U.S. until 1973. See also U.S. Army.

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draft

1. Engineering the divergent duct leading from a water turbine to its tailrace

2. Commerce an allowance on merchandise sold by weight

3. the usual US spelling of draught

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draft [draft]

Also spelled draught.

(civil engineering)

A line of a traverse survey.

(engineering)

In molds, the degree of taper on a side wall or the angle of clearance present to facilitate removal of cured or hardened parts from a mold.

The area of a water discharge opening.

(fluid mechanics)

An air current in a confined space, such as that in a cooling tower or chimney.

The difference between atmospheric pressure and some lower pressure in a confined space that causes air to flow, such as exists in the furnace or gas passages of a steam-generating unit or in a chimney.

(metallurgy)

The act or process of drawing, with dies.

The work or quantity of work drawn.

(naval architecture)

The vertical distance from the top of the keel plate or bar keel to the load waterline.