Sense extended to material for working with in various trades (c. 1400), then "matter of an unspecified kind" (1570s). Meaning "narcotic, dope, drug" is attested from 1929. To know (one's) stuff "have a grasp on a subject" is recorded from 1927.
"to bring into being," early 15c., from Latin creatus, past participle of creare "to make, bring forth, produce, procreate, beget, cause," related to Ceres and to crescere "arise, be born, increase, grow," from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow." De Vaan writes that the original meaning of creare "was 'to make grow', which can still be found in older texts ...." Related: Created; creating.
From c. 1400 as "fill, cram full; fill (the belly) with food or drink, gorge;" from early 15c. as "to clog" (the sinuses, etc.); from late 14c. as "fill (a mattress, etc.) with padding, line with padding;" also in the cookery sense, in reference to filing the interior of a pastry or the cavity of a fowl or beast. The ballot-box sense is attested from 1854, American English; in expressions of contempt and suggestive of bodily orifices, it dates from 1952.
Middle English raue, from Old English hreaw, hreow "uncooked," from Proto-Germanic *khrawaz (source also of Old Norse hrar, Danish raa, Old Saxon hra, Middle Dutch rau, Dutch rauw, Old High German hrawer, German roh), from PIE root *kreue- "raw flesh."
Of skin, "tender, sore, abraded," from late 14c.; of persons, "crude or rude from want of experience, unskilled, youthfully ignorant," from c. 1500; of weather, "damp and sharply chilly" recorded from 1540s. Also used in Middle English of unspun silk, unfulled cloth, untanned hides, etc. Related: Rawly; rawness.
Raw material "unmanufactured material, material for fabrication in its natural state" is from 1796; the notion is of "in a rudimentary condition, in the state of natural growth or formation." Of data, measurements, etc., "not yet processed or adjusted," 1904. In names of colors or pigments, "crude, not brought to perfect finish" (1886). Phrase in the raw "naked" (1921) is from the raw "exposed flesh," which is attested from 1823. Raw deal "harsh treatment" is attested by 1893. Raw bar "bar selling raw oysters" is by 1943.
before vowels om-, word-forming element meaning "raw, unripe," from Greek ōmos "raw," from PIE root *hemo- "raw, sharp-tasting" (source also of Sanskrit amah "raw, uncooked, unripe," Armenian hum; Old Irish om, Welsh of).
