draft
n. countablen. a first version of a piece of writing that you plan to change or improve later. You write this to get your ideas down before making the final copy.
n. a preliminary version of a piece of writing, subject to revision and editing. Often used in academic and professional contexts to describe work in progress.
I need to finish the first draft of my essay tonight.
The committee reviewed the initial draft of the proposal and suggested several changes to the budget section.
While the final manuscript was polished and concise, the early drafts revealed a much more experimental structure that the author eventually abandoned for clarity.
A phonetic spelling of draught (compare laughter), from Middle English draught, draght (“that which is pulled; that which is drawn up, a design”), from Old English dreaht, dræht, from Proto-West Germanic drahti, drahtu, from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz (“a pulling, drawing”). Cognate with Dutch dracht, German Tracht, Icelandic dráttur. By surface analysis, draw + -t.
Commonly used with verbs like 'write', 'revise', or 'submit'.