INFANTRY; ROMAN ARMY.) In textiles, drill is the name of a fabric made in both linen and cotton, and commonly bleached and finished stiff. The word is a shortened form of "drilling," from the German drillich, or "three-threaded," and is so named because the weave originally used in its construction is what is termed the three-leaf twill, nine repeats of which appear in the accompanying figure, while im mediately below the design is an intersection of all the nine threads with the first pick. It is essentially a warp-faced fabric ; that is, the upper surface is composed mostly of warp threads. In the figure it will be seen that two out of every three threads ap pear on the surface, and, by introducing a greater number of threads per inch than picks per inch, the weft is made to oc cupy a still more subordinate position so far as the upper surface of the cloth is concerned. Although the weave shown is still extensively used in this branch, there are others, e.g., the four-thread and the five-thread weaves, which are employed for the production of this cloth. Large quantities of drill are shipped to the Eastern markets and to other subtropical centres. It is also used for military tropical uniforms, and for jackets, overalls, etc.
In agriculture, a furrow in which seed may be sown is known as a drill. The word is somewhat doubtful in origin. It may be the same as an obsolete word "drill," to trickle, flow in drops, also a small stream or flow of water, a rill, and is possibly an altered form of "trill." Drill is also the name of an agricultural machine used for sowing seed or distributing manure (see CULTIVATING MACHINERY). (See also AGRICULTURE: AGRICULTURAL MA CHINERY : SOWING.)