also rawhead, name of a nursery specter or "scare-child" (usually coupled with bloody-bones), early 16c., from raw (adj.) + head (n.).
Entries linking to raw-head
raw adj.
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.
head n.
Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Haupt, Gothic haubiþ "head"), from PIE root *kaput- "head."
Modern spelling is early 15c., representing what was then a long vowel (as in heat) and remained after pronunciation shifted. Of rounded tops of plants from late 14c. Meaning "origin of a river" is mid-14c. Meaning "obverse of a coin" (the side with the portrait) is from 1680s; meaning "foam on a mug of beer" is first attested 1540s; meaning "toilet" is from 1748, based on location of crew toilet in the bow (or head) of a ship.
Synechdochic use for "person" (as in head count) is first attested late 13c.; of cattle, etc., in this sense from 1510s. As a height measure of persons, from c. 1300. Meaning "drug addict" (usually in a compound with the preferred drug as the first element) is from 1911.
To be over (one's) head "beyond one's comprehension" is by 1620s. To give head "perform fellatio" is from 1950s. Phrase heads will roll "people will be punished" (1930) translates Adolf Hitler. Head case "eccentric or insane person" is from 1966. Head game "mental manipulation" attested by 1972.