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raw material definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing [syn: raw material, staple]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1796 crude or processed material that can be converted by manufacture, processing, or combination into a new and useful product <wheat…is raw material for the flour mill — C. A. Koepke>; broadly something with a potential for improvement, development, or elaboration <perplexities are often the raw material of discoveries — Agnes M. Clerke>

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Raw Raw, a. [Compar Rawer; 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. 2. Hence: Unprepared for use or enjoyment; immature; unripe; unseasoned; inexperienced; unpracticed; untried; as, raw soldiers; a raw recruit. Approved himself to the raw judgment of the multitude. --De Quincey. 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. 4. Not covered; bare. Specifically: (a) Bald. [Obs.] ``With scull all raw.'' --Spencer (b) Deprived of skin; galled; as, a raw sore. (c) Sore, as if by being galled. And all his sinews waxen weak and raw Through long imprisonment. --Spenser. 5. Disagreeably damp or cold; chilly; as, a raw wind. ``A raw and gusty day.'' --Shak. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Material Ma*te"ri*al, n. The substance or matter of which anything is made or may be made. 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.