E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Johnny Raw.
A Verdant Green; a newly-enlisted soldier; an adult apprentice in the ship-trade.
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“The impulse given to ship-building by the continental war, induced employers to take persons as apprentices who had already passed their majority. This class of men-apprentices, generally from remote towns, were called ‘Johnny Raws’ by the fraternity.”—C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 73.
