1.
[syn: raw material, staple]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Material \Ma*te"ri*al\, n.
The substance or matter of which anything is made or may be
made.
[1913 Webster]
Raw material, any crude, unfinished, or elementary
materials that are adapted to use only by processes of
skilled labor. Cotton, wool, ore, logs, etc., are raw
material.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Raw \Raw\ (r[add]), a. [Compar. Rawer (r[add]"[~e]r); superl.
Rawest.] [AS. hre['a]w; akin to D. raauw, LG. rau, G. roh,
OHG. r[=o], Icel. hr[=a]r, Dan. raa, Sw. r[*a], L. crudus,
Gr. kre`as flesh, Skr. kravis raw flesh. [root]18. Cf.
Crude, Cruel.]
1. Not altered from its natural state; not prepared by the
action of heat; as, raw sienna; specifically, not cooked;
not changed by heat to a state suitable for eating; not
done; as, raw meat.
[1913 Webster]
2. Hence: Unprepared for use or enjoyment; immature; unripe;
unseasoned; inexperienced; unpracticed; untried; as, raw
soldiers; a raw recruit.
[1913 Webster]
Approved himself to the raw judgment of the
multitude. --De Quincey.
[1913 Webster]
3. Not worked in due form; in the natural state; untouched by
art; unwrought. Specifically:
(a) Not distilled; as, raw water. [Obs.] --Bacon.
(b) Not spun or twisted; as, raw silk or cotton.
(c) Not mixed or diluted; as, raw spirits.
(d) Not tried; not melted and strained; as, raw tallow.
(e) Not tanned; as, raw hides.
(f) Not trimmed, covered, or folded under; as, the raw
edge of a piece of metal or of cloth.
[1913 Webster]
4. Not covered; bare. Specifically:
(a) Bald. [Obs.] "With skull all raw." --Spenser
(b) Deprived of skin; galled; as, a raw sore.
(c) Sore, as if by being galled.
[1913 Webster]
And all his sinews waxen weak and raw
Through long imprisonment. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
5. Disagreeably damp or cold; chilly; bleak; as, a raw wind.
"A raw and gusty day." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Raw material, material that has not been subjected to a
(specified) process of manufacture; as, ore is the raw
material used in smelting; leather is the raw material of
the shoe industry.
Raw pig, cast iron as it comes from the smelting furnace.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
raw material
n 1: material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing [syn:
raw material, staple]