Raw

An art gallery and performance space in Richmond, Virginia; I'm 98% sure it's now defunct, or functioning under another name. "RAW" was short for "Richmond Artists Workshop". This was where I went to my first real concert (with chairs and everything) - duet improvisations featuring Connecticutians Leo Smith (trumpet, miscellany) and Bobby Naughton (vibraphone).

I was only 17, and, for the first time in my life, I was at a venue where "Can I see your ID?" wouldn't be an issue (all-ages hardcore shows were still quite rare at the time), or I wouldn't have to know somebody in order to get in. I remember Smith and/or Naughton carrying a bottle of something - either a beer, which clashed with my image of jazz avant-gardists as hyperspiritual individuals, or some sort of fancy herbal beverage, which would have fit just right with my teenage preconceptions.

A good show, IIRC. I ended up buying a copy of Smith's current LP (on his DIY label Kabell). I remember mostly the long walk through Richmond, back and forth - I didn't have a driver's license yet.

RAW is (rather unfortunately) also a name for two or more file formats.

RAW picture files: I have found them defined as "PSD without a header" - and also as file formats that simply list the RGB values of the pixels in an image according to some trivial ordering.
My current impression is that inside a .raw file you may find just about anything including a rubber duck.
In digital camera jargon, a RAW file is a file that reproduces as closely as possibly what comes off the CCD (or CMOS) of the camera, without any attempt at compression, color correction or other manipulations. This is often desirable, because many cameras are able to generate RAW files at 12 bits per color channel (making a total of 36 bits per pixel), as opposed to the 8 bits per channel that JPEG imposes.

RAW sound files: unfortunately, the same extension and name is also used for sound files. I believe that a .raw file is simply a sequence of samples without a header that describes their format.
Guessing the sampling frequency and the sampling amplitude (8 bits, 16 bits ...) is lefts as an exercise to the user.

practically speaking: if you have a .raw file do not bet your job on its portability.

Raw (?), a. [Compar Rawer (?); superl. Rawest.] [AS. hre�xa0;w; akin to D. raauw, LG. rau, G. roh, OHG. r&omac;, Icel. hrar, Dan. raa, Sw. r�x86;, 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:

1. Not distilled; as, raw water.
   [Obs.] Bacon.
2. Not spun or twisted; as, raw silk or cotton.
3. Not mixed or diluted; as, raw spirits.
4. Not tried; not melted and strained; as, raw tallow.
5. Not tanned; as, raw hides.
6. Not trimmed, covered, or folded under; as, the raw edge of a piece of metal or of cloth.

4.

Not covered; bare. Specifically:

1. Bald. [Obs.]
   "With scull all raw."
   Spencer
2. Deprived of skin; galled; as, a raw sore.
3. 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 1913.

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Raw, n.

A raw, sore, or galled place; a sensitive spot; as, to touch one on the raw.

Like savage hackney coachmen, they know where there is a raw.
De Quincey.

 

© Webster 1913.