Origins
The verb 'draw' is one of the most semantically prolific words in English, with dozens of distinct meanings that all trace back to a single physical action: pulling. Its history illustrates how a concrete bodily movement can ramify into an enormous range of abstract, technical, and metaphorical senses.
Old English 'dragan' was a Class VI strong verb, conjugating with the ablaut pattern dragan/drōg/drōgon/dragen. It meant 'to drag, draw, pull, protract, move by pulling,' and belonged to the core vocabulary of everyday physical action. The modern forms 'draw/drew/drawn' continue this strong verb pattern, though the vowel alternation has shifted through regular Middle English sound changes.
Proto-Germanic *draganą (to draw, pull, carry) is reconstructed from cognates across the Germanic languages: Old Norse 'draga' (to draw, drag), Old Saxon 'dragan,' Old High German 'tragan' (to carry — modern German 'tragen'), Old Frisian 'draga,' and Gothic (unattested but implied by the daughter languages). The meaning 'to carry' preserved in German 'tragen' represents a natural semantic extension: carrying something involves sustained pulling against gravity.
Proto-Indo-European Roots
The PIE root *dʰregʰ- meant 'to draw, drag, pull along the ground.' Cognates outside Germanic are debated but may include Latin 'trahere' (to draw, pull — source of 'traction,' 'attract,' 'extract,' 'contract,' 'subtract,' and many others), though some linguists consider the Latin form a separate root. If the connection holds, it would unite an enormous family of English words — 'draw,' 'drag,' 'traction,' 'attract,' 'trace,' 'trait,' 'portrait,' and 'treat' — under a single ancestral concept of pulling.
The relationship between 'draw' and 'drag' is particularly instructive. Both descend from Old English 'dragan,' but they diverged in Middle English. The standard development produced 'draw' (the vowel shifted and the final consonant was lost in certain environments), while Norse influence reinforced the 'drag' form with its hard -g ending. By late Middle English, the two had become separate words with overlapping but increasingly distinct meanings: 'draw' retained the broader, more abstract senses, while 'drag' specialized toward the rougher, more forceful physical action.
The word 'draught' (also spelled 'draft') is another derivative from the same source, from Old English 'dragan' via the noun formation 'draht/dræht' (act of drawing or pulling). A 'draught' of ale is a 'drawing' from a cask; a 'draught' of air is air 'drawn' through an opening; a 'draft' of a document is something 'drawn up'; a bank 'draft' is money 'drawn' from an account; a 'draught' horse is one that 'draws' a load. The spelling variant 'draft' represents the same word simplified, and both spellings coexist in modern English with different conventions in British and American usage.
Middle English
The sense of drawing a picture — producing lines on a surface — developed in Middle English from the motion of pulling a stylus, pen, or crayon across a surface. This sense is attested by the fourteenth century and gradually became one of the word's most prominent meanings. The noun 'drawing' (a picture made by pulling a tool across a surface) and the 'drawing room' (originally a 'withdrawing room,' a room to which guests withdrew after dinner) both derive from this verb.
The semantic range of 'draw' in modern English is astonishing in its breadth. Draw a sword (pull it from a sheath). Draw water (pull it up from a well). Draw a curtain (pull it across). Draw a breath (pull air in). Draw a crowd (pull people toward). Draw a conclusion (pull reasoning to a result). Draw a salary (pull money from an employer). Draw a blank (pull nothing from memory). Draw a game (pull it to a level result — from the older sense of 'withdraw,' neither side advancing). Draw blood (cause it to flow by pulling it forth). Draw fire (attract enemy attack). Each sense preserves the core kinesthetic image of pulling, however abstractly.
The compound 'drawbridge' names the defensive structure whose operation is drawing — pulling up the bridge to prevent entry. 'Withdraw' (with- + draw, where 'with-' means 'away, back' in its Old English sense) means to pull back or pull away. 'Overdraw' means to draw more money from an account than it contains. Each compound transparently preserves the pulling sense.
Later History
In card games and lotteries, 'draw' means to pull a card or ticket from a concealed collection — the literal physical act of pulling. The 'draw' in poker (draw poker) names the act of drawing replacement cards. The 'draw' of a lottery is the pulling of winning numbers. The sense of luck or chance in 'the luck of the draw' derives directly from this concrete action.
In sports, 'draw' as a noun meaning a tied result is attested from the early nineteenth century. The etymology of this sense is debated: it may derive from the idea of 'drawing back' (withdrawing) from the contest without a winner, or from the idea of 'pulling level' with one's opponent. The drawn game in chess, cricket, and football all use this terminology.
The artistic sense of 'draw' has generated its own rich vocabulary. A 'drawing' is distinguished from a 'painting' by the primacy of line over color. 'Draughtsmanship' (or 'draftsmanship') is the skill of drawing. A 'drawer' in the artistic sense is one who draws, though the same word for a sliding storage compartment comes from the furniture-maker's sense of something that is 'drawn out' (pulled out) from a cabinet.
Legacy
The idiom 'back to the drawing board' (meaning starting over after a failure) dates from a 1941 New Yorker cartoon by Peter Arno showing an aircraft designer walking away from a crashed plane. It has become one of the most common expressions for having to recommence a project, embedding the act of drawing (in the planning sense) deep into everyday English discourse.