Meaning & use
rawhide
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The skin of cattle or other animals that has been dried but not turned into soft leather by tanning.
Grammar: Treated as a material: a strip of rawhide, not 'a rawhide' for the material itself.
Patterns
- strips of rawhide
- made of rawhide
The drum's head was stretched from tough rawhide.
Old tools on the ranch were tied together with strips of rawhide.
The rawhide dried stiff in the desert sun.
nouncountable or uncountable
A chewable pet treat made from this dried skin.
Grammar: A rawhide can mean one treat; rawhide alone names the material.
Patterns
- chew a rawhide
- a rawhide bone
The puppy spent the whole afternoon chewing a rawhide.
Some vets warn that large pieces of rawhide can cause choking.
She bought a bag of rawhide chews for her dog.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A whip made of the dried untanned skin.
Grammar: Mostly in older westerns and historical writing.
Patterns
- crack a rawhide
The driver cracked his rawhide over the oxen.
A coiled rawhide hung from the saddle horn.
The old rawhide was stiff but still sharp when swung.
Word forms
| plural | rawhides |
|---|
Common combinations
- strip of rawhide
- He bound the handle with a strip of rawhide.
- rawhide bone
- The dog buried its rawhide bone in the garden.
- rawhide chew
- A rawhide chew can keep a puppy busy for hours.
- rawhide lacing
- The snowshoe was strung with rawhide lacing.
- dried rawhide
- Dried rawhide is hard but bends when soaked.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hide
- Hide is the general word for animal skin, whether raw or processed, while rawhide specifically means untanned.
- leather
- Leather has been tanned and is soft and durable, whereas rawhide is stiffer and rots if it stays wet.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: rawhide or tanned hide?
rawhide vs tanned hide
A tanned hide has been chemically treated to become flexible leather, unlike rawhide which is only dried.
Practice
What makes rawhide different from leather?
Choose one answer.
Rawhide is dried animal skin that has not been tanned. Dyeing is not the difference, and it is usually from cattle.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rawhide”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.