I. ˈrȯ adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hrēaw, hrǣw; akin to Old High German hrō raw, Old Norse hrār raw, Latin cruor blood, crudus raw, Greek kreas flesh, Sanskrit kravis raw flesh
1. : not subjected to heat in the course of preparation as food : not cooked
lived on raw grains and fruits
a raw egg
likes his steak nearly raw
2.
a. : being in or nearly in the natural state : little changed by art or technical processes : unwrought , unprocessed , crude 1
raw textile fibers
raw starch
raw linseed oil
also : not diluted or blended
raw spirits
b. : unprepared or imperfectly prepared for use or enjoyment : lacking a normal or usual finish : undressed
left the edges raw
raw wooden shacks
c. : not presented in polished and finished form : undigested , uncorrected , unedited
a raw draft of a thesis
raw statistics
d. : lacking the usual guard : unbound
a shoe with raw eyelets
a raw buttonhole
e. : uncultivated , unimproved
raw land awaiting the builder
f. of photographic film : unexposed
3.
a.
(1) : having the skin removed so that the underlying tissues are exposed : severely chafed or galled
a raw wound
(2) : sore from or as if from being galled
a raw irritated throat
(3) : looking as if galled : rawboned
b. : lacking a natural covering
a raw eroded slope
c. : lacking clothing : naked
liked to swim raw
4.
a. : lacking in experience or understanding : serving in a new and unfamiliar role : untrained and unskilled and of problematical worth : green
a civilizing influence for me as for other raw youths — R.M.Lovett
raw servant girls
as
(1) obsolete : unripe , immature
(2) : new to military life
an army of raw recruits
b. : lacking in amenities and refinements since newly developed, occupied, or established and elemental, direct, primitive, and unrestrained
in the West of the raw and exciting days before the coming of the automobile — Seth Agnew
creating a new world in a raw continental mass
c. : starkly new and entirely unmellowed
endless new buildings, raw and just finished — New Yorker
d.
(1) : lacking in refinement or graciousness : deficient in savoir faire or elegance : crude 5
(2) slang : coarse , indelicate , vulgar
a raw remark
5. : disagreeably damp or cold : chilly and disagreeable : bleak
a raw wind
raw winter days
6. of a ceramic glaze mixture : having no soluble ingredients and not requiring fritting
Synonyms: see rude
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English rawen, from raw, adjective
: to cause to become raw
III. noun
( -s )
1. : a raw, sore, or galled place : a sensitive spot
2. : someone or something raw, uncultivated, or unprocessed — usually used in plural of commercial products (as sugar or oysters)
bought 100 tons of raws
•
- in the raw
IV.
chiefly Scotland
variant of row