sketch

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A hasty or undetailed drawing or painting often made as a preliminary study.
2. n. A brief general account or presentation; an outline.
3. n. A brief, light, or informal literary composition, such as an essay or a short story.
4. n. Music A brief composition, especially for the piano.
5. n. A short, often satirical scene or play in a revue or variety show; a skit.
6. n. Informal An amusing person.
7. v. To make a sketch of; outline.
8. v. To make a sketch.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A brief, slight, or hasty delineation; a rapid or offhand presentation of the essential facts of anything; a rough draft; an outline: as, in literature, the sketch of an event, a character, or a career.
2. n. In art:
3. n. The first suggestive embodiment. of an artist's idea as expressed on canvas, or on paper, or in the clay model, upon which his more finished performance is to be elaborated or built up.
4. n. A slight transcript from nature of the human figure, or of any object, made in crayon or chalk with simple shading, or any rough draft in colors, taken with the object of securing for the artist the materials for a finished picture; a design in outline; a delineated memorandum; a slight delineation or indication of an artist's thought, invention, or recollection.
5. n. A short and slightly constructed play or literary composition: as, “sketches by Boz.”
6. n. In music:
7. n. A short composition consisting of a single movement: so called either from the simplicity of its construction, or because it is of a descriptive character, being suggested by some external object, or being intended to suggest such an object, as a fountain or a brook.
8. n. Generally in the plural, preliminary memoranda made by a composer with the intention of developing them afterward into a finished composition. Such sketches consist sometimes of only a few notes, sometimes of the most important parts of a whole movement. For instance, great numbers of sketches by Beethoven are still extant, many of them showing the progressive stages of works afterward fully completed.
9. n. In com., a description, sent at regular intervals to the consignor, of the kinds of goods sold by a commission house and the terms of sale. Synonyms Skeleton, plot, plan.-
10. To present the essential facts of, with omission of details; outline briefly or slightly; describe or depict in a general, incomplete, and suggestive way.
11. Specifically, in art, to draw or portray in outline, or with partial shading; make a rough or slight draft of, especially as a memorandum for more finished work: as, to sketch a group or a landscape.
12. Synonyms To portray. See outline, n.
13. To make a sketch; present essential facts or features, with omission of details.
14. Specifically, in art, to draw in outline or with partial shading: as, she sketches cleverly.

Wiktionary

1. v. To make a brief, basic drawing.
2. v. To describe a person, or an incident, briefly, and with very few details.
3. n. A rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not intended as a finished work, often consisting of a multitude of overlapping lines.
4. n. A rough design, plan, or draft, as a rough draft of a book.
5. n. A brief description of a person or account of an incident; a general presentation or outline.
6. n. A brief, light, or unfinished dramatic, musical, or literary work or idea; eg. a short, often humorous or satirical scene or play, frequently as part of a revue or variety show, a skit; or, a brief musical composition or theme, especially for the piano; or, a brief, light, or informal literary composition, such as an essay or short story.
7. n. informal An amusing person.
8. n. slang, Ireland Keeping sketch: to keep a lookout.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An outline or general delineation of anything; a first rough or incomplete draught or plan of any design; especially, in the fine arts, such a representation of an object or scene as serves the artist's purpose by recording its chief features; also, a preliminary study for an original work.
2. v. To draw the outline or chief features of; to make a rought of.
3. v. To plan or describe by giving the principal points or ideas of.
4. v. To make sketches, as of landscapes.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make a sketch of
2. n. a humorous or satirical drawing published in a newspaper or magazine
3. n. preliminary drawing for later elaboration
4. v. describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of
5. n. short descriptive summary (of events)
6. n. a brief literary description