draft

1. Shipping: (1) Vertical distance between a ship's waterline and the lowest point of its keel. (2) Depth of water to which a ship sinks according to its load. Maximum draft (also called 'deep load draft') occurs when the ship sinks to its Plimsoll line. Practically all ships have parallel horizontal lines drawn on both sides of front (bow) and back (stern) to mark each foot of draft. Also spelled as draught.

2. Trading: Bill of exchange which is a written payment order from one party (the drawer) to another (the drawee) to pay a stated sum to a third party (the payee) either immediately (in case of a sight draft) or on or before a specified date (in case of a time draft). When presented with shipping and/or title documents, it is called a documentary draft; without them, a clean draft. Also called draft bill of exchange.