<B>rawhide, </B>noun, verb, <B>-hided,</B> <B>-hiding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the skin of cattle that has not been tanned. <DD><B> 2. </B>a rope or whip made of this. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to whip with a rawhide. </DL>
<A NAME="rawin">
<B>rawin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the determination of wind speed and direction by the tracking of a balloon with radar or radiocompass. <DD><B> 2. </B>wind tracked in this manner. </DL>
<A NAME="rawinsonde">
<B>rawinsonde, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the gathering of temperature, pressure, wind speed or other atmospheric information by means of a balloon-borne radiosonde tracked by radiocompass and sometimes radar. <DD><B> 2. </B>a radiosonde used for this purpose. </DL>
<B>raw material,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a substance in its natural state; any product that comes from mines, farms, forests, or the like before it is prepared for use in factories, mills, and similar places. Coal, iron ore, petroleum, cotton, and animal hides are raw materials. <BR> <I>Ex. These imports are mainly raw materials that are duty-free, or have low tariff rates because the U.S. requires them (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. Young men are the raw material of an army. You [the Press] deal with the raw material of opinion (Woodrow Wilson).</I> </DL>
<B>raw packing,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the canning of fruits or vegetables by cold-packing them; cold pack. </DL>
<A NAME="rawscore">
<B>raw score,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the score in a psychological, educational, or other test as obtained originally, before making any adjustments. </DL>
<A NAME="rawsilk">
<B>raw silk,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>silk reeled from the cocoons before being thrown or spun. <DD><B> 2. </B>cloth woven from this silk. </DL>
<B>ray</B> (1), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a line or beam of light. <BR> <I>Ex. rays of the sun.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a line or stream of heat, electricity, or other radiant energy. <BR> <I>Ex. X rays, the invisible rays of the spectrum.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>any stream of particles moving in the same line. <DD><B> 3. </B>a thin line like a ray, coming out from a center. <BR> <I>Ex. Little rays shot out through the pane of glass where the stone hit it.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a part like a ray, such as: <DD><B> a. </B>one of the arms or branches of a starfish. <DD><B> b. </B>the marginal portion of the flower head of certain composite plants, composed of ray flowers or petals. <DD><B> c. </B>one of these ray flowers. <DD><B> d. </B>a branch of an umbel. <DD><B> e. </B>one of the processes which support and extend the fin of a fish. <DD><B> f. </B>one of the vertical bands of tissue between the pith and the bark of a tree or other plant. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) a slight trace; faint gleam. <BR> <I>Ex. Not a ray of hope pierced our gloom.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B><B>=half-line.</B> <DD><B> 7. </B>light; radiance. <BR> <I>Ex. lamps that shed at eve a cheerful ray (Thomas Gray).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>a line of sight. <DD><B> 9. </B>a glance of the eye. <BR> <I>Ex. All eyes direct their rays On him (Alexander Pope).</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>one of any system of lines, parts, or things radially arranged. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to extend in lines from the center. <DD><B> 2. </B>to issue as rays. <DD><B> 3. </B>to shine. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to send forth in rays; radiate. <DD><B> 2. </B>to treat with rays, as with X rays. <DD><B> 3. </B>to throw rays upon. </DL>
<A NAME="ray">
<B>ray</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various fishes that have broad, flat bodies with very broad fins. Rays are related to the sharks. The electric ray has organs with which it shocks or kills its prey. Various rays include the sting rays, electric rays, devilfishes, and sawfishes. </DL>
<A NAME="rayah">
<B>rayah</B> or <B>raya, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a subject of the Ottoman Empire, especially not a Moslem, who paid a poll tax </DL>
<A NAME="rayed">
<B>rayed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having rays. </DL>
<A NAME="rayfinned">
<B>ray-finned, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having fins consisting of soft or spiny rays with a web of skin around them. Most fish living today are ray-finned. </DL>
<A NAME="rayflower">
<B>ray flower</B> or <B>floret,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of the marginal flowers or florets of a daisy, aster, or other composite flower head, resembling a petal. </DL>
<A NAME="rayfungus">
<B>ray fungus,</B> <B>=actinomycete.</B></DL>
<A NAME="raygun">
<B>ray gun,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a gun or other instrument that is supposed to shoot radioactive rays. <DD><B> 2. </B>anything resembling such a gun, as a scientific instrument producing a form of radiation. </DL>
<A NAME="rayhair">
<B>ray hair,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of the slender filaments in the finfold of an embryo fish. </DL>
<A NAME="raying">
<B>raying, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> exposure to radioactivity. </DL>
<A NAME="rayleighwave">
<B>Rayleigh wave,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a vertical, ripple-like wave on or just below the surface of the earth, caused by seismic disturbances. </DL>
<B>rayless goldenrod,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various plants related to the goldenrod which contain the poisonous substance that causes trembles in cattle and sheep. </DL>
<A NAME="raynaudsdisease">
<B>Raynaud's disease,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a primary disorder of the vascular system, characterized by spasms and cyanosis of the extremities, especially in the fingers and toes, due to the obstruction of blood supply and local asphyxia. </DL>
<A NAME="raynaudsphenomenon">
<B>Raynaud's phenomenon,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a condition in which the hand or fingers turn white or blue, especially as a symptom of Raynaud's disease. </DL>
<A NAME="rayon">
<B>rayon, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a fiber or fabric made from cellulose treated with chemicals. Rayon is used instead of silk, wool, cotton, and similar fabrics and can be made to look like any one of these, especially silk. <BR> <I>Ex. Rayon ranks second only to cotton as the most widely used fiber (Charles H. Rutledge).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>cloth made of this fiber. <DD><I>adj. </I> made of rayon. <BR> <I>Ex. a rayon sweater.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rayonism">
<B>rayonism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a semiabstract style of painting in which natural objects are depicted as radiating rays of light and color. n., adj. <B>rayonist.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rayonnant">
<B>rayonnant, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>sending out rays. <DD><B> 2. </B>having radiating lines, as some architectural or other decoration. </DL>
<A NAME="rayonne">
<B>rayonne, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) (of a division on an escutcheon) having alternate pointed projections and depressions. </DL>
<A NAME="raze">
<B>raze, </B>transitive verb, <B>razed,</B> <B>razing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to tear down; destroy completely; demolish. <BR> <I>Ex. The old firehouse was razed to the ground and a new one was built.</I> (SYN) level. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) to scrape off; erase. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) to scrape. Also, <B>rase.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="razee">
<B>razee, </B>noun, verb, <B>-zeed,</B> <B>-zeeing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Obsolete.) a ship reduced in height by the removal of the upper deck. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic, Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. The hulks and razees of enslaved and half-enslaved intelligence (Oliver Wendell Holmes).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to cut down (a ship) by removing the upper deck. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to abridge. </DL>
<A NAME="razon">
<B>razon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a bomb with movable control surfaces in the tail that can be adjusted by radio signals from a plane to control the bomb in range and azimuth. </DL>
<A NAME="razor">
<B>razor, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a tool with a sharp blade to shave with. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=electric shaver.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to shave with a razor. <BR> <I>Ex. The trapper razored his face clean of beard.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to remove with a razor. <BR> <I>Ex. to razor a beard.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="razorable">
<B>razorable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> fit to be shaved. </DL>
<A NAME="razorback">
<B>razorback, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a kind of thin, halfwild hog with a ridged back. Razorbacks are common in the southern United States. <DD><B> 2. </B>a finback (whale); rorqual. <DD><B> 3. </B>a sharp ridge, as on a hill or mountain. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=razor-backed.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. ... razorback hills covered with jungles (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="razorbacked">
<B>razor-backed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a very sharp back or ridge. <BR> <I>Ex. a razor-backed animal.</I> </DL>
<B>razor-edged, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having a razor edge. <BR> <I>Ex. In recent works, he divides the painting into razor-edged triangles rimmed with black (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) keen; incisive; trenchant. <BR> <I>Ex. razor-edged wit.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="razorhaircut">
<B>razor haircut,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a haircut given with a razor instead of scissors. </DL>
<A NAME="razorribbon">
<B>razor ribbon, =razor wire.</B></DL>
<A NAME="razorsedge">
<B>razor's edge,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a keen edge. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a precariously thin line or margin. <BR> <I>Ex. China is balanced on a razor's edge between victory and defeat (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> </DL>
