to draw
- verb
- /drษ/
- The shades were half-drawn; a ripple of water was reflected on the wall.
Examples
-
After washing the sweater several times, it began to draw and no longer fit properly.
-
The woman sat with her knees drawn to her chest, her baby propped against her shins.
Fiction book (1994) -
She's a child with a stick drawing pictures in the dirt.
Fiction book (1993) -
She'd gotten up before dawn to draw the blinds at the windows.
Fiction book (1992) -
Blinds had been drawn over its windows; some of its clapboards were hanging loose.
Fiction book (1998) -
When exposed to heat, the fabric will draw and become tighter around the seams.
-
If you wash this cotton shirt in hot water, it is likely to draw significantly.
Synonyms
Become smaller after washing or heating
Antonyms
Idioms
- Offensive
To kill someone by tying limbs to four horses and pulling them apart, or to punish very harshly
- Offensive
To threaten or kill someone by hanging, cutting their body open and dividing it into four parts
- Informal
To end up by chance with an unpleasant task or in a worse position
Phrasal Verbs
- Specialized
To pull tissue or skin to the side to hold a wound open during surgery
- Literature
To stop or slow progress by controlling it, like a rider pulling the straps that guide a horse
Compounds
- Jargon
A football play where the quarterback fakes a pass then hands the ball to a running back
A type of poker where players discard some cards and get new ones to improve their hand
How Small
Surface Forms
Etymology
Draw meaning to shrink in fabric comes from the older sense 'to pull in', so when cloth draws it 'pulls' tighter or becomes smaller.