Also 6 strippe, stryppe, 7 stripp. [a. or cogn. w. MLG. strippe strap, thong of a whip-lash, purse-string, etc., perh. f. Teut. root *strĭp-: see STRIPE sb.2
The MLG. strippe, however, may be for *strūppe cogn. with STROP sb.; if so, sense 3 may perh. be an adoption of an unrecorded continental use: cf. Du. strop collar, stock.]
1. A narrow piece (primarily of textile material, paper, or the like; hence gen.) of approximately uniform breadth.
Pilaster strip (Arch.): see PILASTER.
1459. Invent., in Paston Lett., I. 478. Item, j pece of blak kersey with rosys…. Item, ij. stripis of the same sute.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 10. Strippes of black Veluet, euery strip set with a scalop shell.
1697. H. Wanley, in Bodl. Q. Rec. (1915), Jan., 107. That a little strip of Parchment be pasted to each Tract, with its number written upon it.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Strip, a small piece of Cloth.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 74. The glare of an egg … spread upon strips of paper.
1811. in Rep. Comm. Publ. Rec. Irel. (1815), 71. The Fees demandable by the Clerk of the Enrolments…. For ingrossing every double strip of Enrolment, 0 1 71/2.
1847. G. Harris, Life Ld. Hardwicke, III. xiv. 283–4. The following is in Lord Hardwicke’s handwriting, on a small strip of paper.
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, I. xviii. No carpet, except little strips by the bed.
1882. Gaskell, in Jrnl. Physiol., IV. 51. A strip of muscular tissue is cut from the apex of the ventricle.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 118. A strip of very fine muslin.
† b. collect. as a material.
1801. Jane Austen, Lett. (1884), I. 283. My mother has ordered a new bonnet, and so have I; both white strip, trimmed with white ribbon.
c. A long narrow tract of territory, of land, wood, etc.
1816. Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, vi. (1818), 206. The banks [of the river here] have in some places low strips of soil and sand.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. 27. The county of Nice and duchy of Genoa, which form a long narrow strip between the southern side of the mountains and the sea.
1842. W. Aiton, Dom. Econ. (1857), 284. The preceding minister … had planted a strip of firs … around the portion of the glebe on which the manse and offices were built.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, vi. 74. This road is bordered by a strip of common.
1880. Ruskin, On Old Road (1885), II. 3. A narrow strip of untilled field.
d. A narrow piece of board, metal plate, etc.
1831. Brewster, Optics, xxviii. 240. The influence of compression and dilatation may be well exhibited by taking a strip of glass … and bending it by the force of the hands.
1860. J. Hewitt, Arms & Arm., II. 120. Defences in which longitudinal strips appear, are of this [the 14th] century. These strips are placed contiguously, on the arms and legs: they sometimes form a mere ridge on the surface of a smooth armour.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2430. Strip, a narrow piece of board nailed over a crack or joint between planks.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 41. Strips of wood about 21/2 in. wide by 1 in. thick.
e. A narrow portion of a surface, bounded by parallel lines.
1882. G. M. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 185. To find the resistance of this area, we may consider it as broken up into … an indefinitely great number of equipotential strips.
1892. Cayley, Math. Papers (1897), XIII. 233. The skew surface is thus composed of rigid strips or elements, each included between two consecutive lines.
† 2. ? Some piece of armor. Obs. rare–1.
Cf. the mod. application in quot. 1860 in 1 d, and in strip-armour.
c. 1508. Dunbar, Poems, xxvi. 37. Bostaris, braggaris, and barganeris … Al bodin in feir of weir, In iakkis, and stryppis and bonettis of steill.
† 3. An ornamental article of attire worn, chiefly by women, about the neck and the upper part of the chest. Obs.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., V. iv. 31. When a plum’d Fanne may shade thy chalked face, And lawny strips thy naked bosome grace. Ibid., IV. vi. 44. Tyr’d with pin’d Ruffes, and Fans, and partlet-strips And Buskes, and Verdingales about their hips.
1642. in Alice M. Earle, Two Cent. Costume Amer. (1903), I. 205. [A Maryland gentleman left by will, with other attire, in 1642,] Nine laced stripps, two plain stripps, nine quoiffes, one call, eight crosse-cloths [etc.].
1658. J. Smith, Innov. Penelope & Ulysses, in Wit Restored, 155. A stomacher upon her breast so bare, For Strips and Gorgets was not then the weare.
4. Metallurgy. a. An ingot prepared for rolling into plates.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 217/2. The ingots [of brass] for rolling, termed ‘strips,’ are in the cold state passed successively between rolls … of large size which squeeze them out and extend them lengthwise.
1879. C. Hibbs, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 413/1. The ingots or ‘strips’ [of German silver] are then rolled into plates.
b. A narrow flat bar of iron or steel; hence, iron or steel in ‘strips’ (more fully strip iron, steel).
Often with prefixed word denoting the purpose, as gas, nail, rail, tube strip.
1887. Daily News, 16 May, 2/3. Bedstead strip varies from £5 to £7 per ton … and gas strip £4 17s 6d to £5. Ibid. (1893), 5 June, 2/4. Tube strip is £5 10s to £5 15s; the competition in thin strip and hoop iron … continues keen…. Hoops and thin strips are being offered … at £6. Local makers ask £6 5s for steel strip.
1901. Waterhouse, Conduit Wiring, 8. The Conduits are made from selected steel strip.
5. Mining. (See quot.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2430. Strip (Mining), an inclined trough in which ores are separated by being disturbed while covered by a stream of water descending the strip.
6. attrib., as (sense 1 c) strip-holder, -holding, -owner; (sense 4 a) strip-caster; strip-armour Hist., armor for the arms and legs, showing broad raised strips (see sense 1 d) alternating with sunken bands; strip-loin U.S., a particular cut of the loin of beef; strip map, a long narrow map, showing the course of a line of road, and the places adjacent; strip ticket, a ticket for a journey by a public conveyance, printed with a number of similar tickets on a strip of paper; strip-work, (a) Arch. = strap-work (STRAP sb. 17); (b) = strip-armour.
1860. J. Hewitt, Arms & Arm., II. 121. The manner of forming this *strip-armour is very exactly described.
1879. C. Hibbs, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 413/1. The *‘stripcaster’ as he is termed.
1884. B’ham Daily Post, 23 Feb., 3/5. Stripcaster.—Wanted, Steady Man, used to casting Brass for rolling.
1898. F. W. Maitland, Township & Borough, 64. Very often the office-holders were *strip-holders or at any rate belonged to families which had held strips.
1901. E. King, in Month, Dec., 603. What are we to say about the *strip-holding of arable land which was so universal in England?
1884. G. Pomeroy Keese, in Harper’s Mag., July, 299/1. Tenderloins, *striploins, sirloins, [etc.].
1903. List New Publications, in Daily Chron., 30 July, 3/3. ‘The Exeter Road.’ *Strip map. ‘The Liverpool and Manchester Road.’ Strip map. ‘The Carlisle Road.’ Strip map.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 23 July, 10/2. The Strip or Motor-Route Maps.
1898. F. W. Maitland, Township & Borough, 6. The *strip-owners are for the more part colleges.
1903. Daily Chron., 7 Sept., 1/5. The experiment of substituting *strip tickets for season tickets on the Baker-street and Waterloo, Great Northern and Piccadilly, and Charing-cross, Euston, and Hampstead Railways comes into force on October 1. Ibid. (1909), 10 July, 4/6. Our London tube strip-tickets.
1860. J. Hewitt, Arms & Arm., II. 121. In both these sculptures the *strip-work is found on the arms and legs.
1893. Reliquary, Jan., 16. The third stage has a large window in the south wall; this has decorated strip-work around it.
