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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Draw

Draw, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. DREW; p. p. DRAWN; p. pr. & vb. n. DRAWING.] [A. & O. S. dragan. See DRAG.] 1. To cause to move toward or after one by the exertion of force; to pull along; to haul; to drag; to cause to follow. Drew him through dirt and mire without remorse. Spenser. He hastened to draw the stranger into a private room. W. Scott. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats? James ii. 6. 2. To influence to move or tend toward one’s self; to exercise an attracting force upon; to attract; hence, to entice; to allure; to engage; to induce. The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. Shak. Draw me, we will run after thee. Cant. i. 4. 3. To cause to come out for one’s use or benefit; to extract; to educe; to bring forth; as, (a.) To pull from a sheath or inclosure, as a weapon. Here where the sword united nations drew. Byron. (b.) To bring out from some receptacle, as a stick or post from a hole, water or other liquid from a cask, well, and the like. They drew out the staves of the ark. 2 Chron. v. 9. Draw thee waters for the siege. Nahum iii. 14. I opened the tumor without drawing one drop of blood. Wiseman. (c.) To extract; to force out; to force forth. Spirits by distillation may be drawn out of vegetable juices, which shall flame of themselves. Cheyne. So sad an object, and so well expressed, Drew sighs and groans from the grieved hero’s breast. Dryden. (d.) To obtain from some cause or origin, as an inference from evidence or reasons; to deduce from premises; to derive. We do not draw the moral lessons we might from history. Burke. (e.) To take from a place of deposit; to call for and receive from a fund, or the like; as, to draw money from a bank. (f.) To receive from a lottery by the drawing out of the numbers for prizes or blanks; hence, to obtain by good fortune; to win; to gain. 4. To remove the contents of; as, (a.) To drain by emptying; to suck dry. Sucking and drawing the breast dischargeth the milk as fast as it can be generated. Wiseman. (b.) To extract the bowels of; to eviscerate; as, to draw a fowl; to hang, draw, and quarter a criminal. “In private draw your poultry.” King. 5. 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. 6. To extend in length; to lengthen out; to protract; to stretch; to extend, as a mass of metal into wire. How long her face is drawn! Shak.

  1. To run, extend, or produce, as a line on any surface; to protract; hence, also, to form by marking; to make by an instrument of delineation; to produce, as a sketch, figure, or picture.
  2. To represent by lines drawn; to form a sketch, figure, or picture of; to delineate; hence, to represent by words or in fancy; to describe; to depict.

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

  1. To write in due form; to prepare a draught of; as, to draw a memorial, a deed, or bill of exchange.
  2. To require a depth of, as water, for floating; — said of a vessel; to sink in water; as, a ship draws ten feet of water.
  3. To take away; to withdraw. [Obs.]

Go wash thy face, and draw this action. Shak. Drawn butter, butter melted and prepared for use as gravy, to be poured on food. — Drawn game, or battle, one in which neither party wins; one equally contested. — To draw a bow, to discharge a bow by drawing and letting go the string. — 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 in closing or unclosing. “Night draws the curtain, which the sun withdraws.” Herbert. — To draw back, to receive back, as duties on goods for exportation. — 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 entitle one to receive interest for. — To draw off, to withdraw; to abstract. Addison. — To draw on, to bring on; to occasion; to cause. “War either his negligence drew on, or his practices procured.” Hayward. — To draw out, to stretch or extend; to protract; to spread out. 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. — Draw 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 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.

Draw, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To pull; to exert strength in drawing; to have force to drag along; as, a horse draws well; the sails of a ship draw well. 2. To exert an attractive force; to act as an inducement or enticement. Watch the bias of the mind, that it may not draw too much. Addison.

  1. (Med.) To have efficiency as an epispastic; to act as a sinapism; — said of a blister, poultice, &c.
  2. To have draught, as a chimney, flue, or the like; to furnish transmission to smoke, gases, &c.
  3. To unsheathe, as a weapon, especially a sword.
  4. To perform the act or practice the art of delineation; to sketch; to form figures or pictures.
  5. To become contracted; to shrink. “To draw into less room.” Bacon.
  6. To move; to come or go; literally, to draw one's self; — with prepositions and adverbs; as, to draw back, to retreat; to draw off, to retire or retreat; to draw on, to advance; to draw up, to form in array; to draw near, or nigh, to approach.
  7. To make a draft or written demand for payment of money deposited or due; — usually with on.

You may draw on me for the expenses of your journey. Jay. 10. To admit the action of pulling or dragging; to undergo draught; as, a carriage draws easily.

☞ 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 liquor 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.

Draw, n.

noun

n. 1. The act of drawing; draught.

  1. A lot or chance drawn.
  2. That part of a bridge which is raised up, swung round, or drawn aside; a draw-bridge or swing-bridge. [U. S.]