The word of the day is draft. I was thinking about its many, seemingly disparate, uses including: 1) draft a document, 2) draft beer, 3) cyclists drafting, 4) a military draft, 5) a draft horse and 6) feeling a draft.
How can they all be the same word? The answer might lie in the etymology of draft, which comes from the Old English dragan, meaning “to pull or draw”. The different meanings of “draft” all derive from the core concept of pulling or drawing, wether it’s:
- Draft a document (pull from a preliminary state into written form aka draw up)
- Draft beer (liquid pulled from a cask or keg)
- Cyclists drafting (an area of low resistance pulling the rider forward)
- A military draft (a group of people pulled or selected for military service)
- A draft horse (a horse that hauls or pulls heavy freight)
- Feeling a draft (a current of air that is drawn into a space)
So interesting. And yes, this is what I think about on my commute.