draw up

present singular third person draws up · participle present drawing up · past drew up · participle past drawn up

1. transitiveTo compose (a document), especially following a standard form; prepare a plan.

   I asked my lawyer to draw up a new will.

   2 more examples

   Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

   1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC

   Plans were drawn up and things looked promising for a physical connection to be made during a line possession in October 2019.

   2021 November 17, Mark Rand, “Reconnecting rail freight to S&C quarries”, in RAIL, number 944, page 55

   Synonyms: make out

2. transitiveTo arrange in order or formation.

   Sergeant, please draw the men up in ranks of three.

   Synonyms: formate

3. transitiveTo cause to come to a halt.

   Draw up the carriage just around the corner!

   Synonyms: freeze

4. intransitiveTo come to a halt.

   The tractor drew up alongside the haystack.

   3 more examples

   As the cab drew up before the address indicated, the fog lifted a little and showed him a dingy street, a gin palace, a low French eating house, a shop for the retail of penny numbers and twopenny salads, many ragged children huddled in the doorways, and many women of many different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a morning glass; […]

   1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Carew Murder Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 40–41

   The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind.

   1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 8

   Melton Mowbray station, ½ mile east of the junction, is an unimposing and cramped structure with up and down platforms only and express trains which call there have to draw up twice because of the short platform lengths.

   1959 June, J. F. Oxley, D. R. Smith, “The Nottingham-Kettering line of the L.M.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 320

   Synonyms: brake

5. To withdraw upwards.

   1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII Ere long a bell tinkled, and the curtain drew up. Within the arch, the bulky figure of Sir George Lynn, whom Mr. Rochester had likewise chosen, was seen enveloped in a white sheet.

   Synonyms: retract