Pa. t. and pa. pple. stripped, stript. Forms: 1 -strýpan, 3 strupen, 3–6 stripe, 4–6 strype, 4 strepe, streepe, struype, 4–6 stryppe, 4–7 strippe, 5 streppe, 7 stripp, 6– strip. Pa. t. 1 -strýpte, -strípte, 3 strepte, streopte, strupte, 5 strypid, striput, strepid, strope, 6 stryp(p)ed, 6– stripped, stript. Pa. pple. 1 -strýped, 3 istruped, 4 i-strupt, i-stripte, 5 strypte, striped, 6 stryp(p)ed, striped, 7 strip’d, 5– stripped, 6– stript. [ME. stripe, strepe, strupe (ü):—OE. *stríepan, *strépan, *strýpan (whence be-strýpan to plunder, despoil see BESTRIP v.), corresp. to MLG., MDu. strôpen (mod.Du. stroopen), to plunder, strip, MHG. ströufen to skin, chastise (mod.G. streifen to strip off):—WGer. *straupjan; the Teut. root *straup-: *strup- prob. occurs also in MHG. strupfen to strip off, and possibly in STROP sb.
The normal mod. form of the present-stem would be *stripe; the shortening of the vowel prob. took place first before the two consonants in the pa. t. and pa. pple. stript, and hence extended to the pres.-stem.
The mod. Du. strippen to strip (tobacco), sometimes cited as cognate, is prob. from Eng.]
I. To unclothe, denude.
1. trans. To divest (a person, body) of clothing; to undress, make bare or naked. Often more definitely with compl. or phrase, to strip naked, to strip to the skin, (to the buff). Const. of, † out of (one’s clothing).
a. 1225. Juliana, 16. He het hatterliche strupen hire steort naket.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 807. Ye dide me streepe out of my poure weede And richely me cladden.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VIII. 221. [Heo] was i-stripte and i-scourged [L. exspoliata flagellaretur].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 480/1. Strypyn, or streppyn, or make nakyd, nudo, denudo.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 121. Þay buffed hym and bobbyd hym, and aftyr striput hym naked.
1530–1. Act 22 Hen. VIII., c. 12 § 2. They shall strype hym naked from the myddel upwarde & cause hymn to be whypped.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xix. (1912), 272. For there they began to strip her of her clothes, when I came in among them.
1592. Timme, Ten Eng. Lepers, vii. I j. Her husband … might strip her out of her clothes,… and beat her openly.
1657. Billingsly, Brachy-Martyrol., xxxii. 119. Strip, strip, man, woman, child,… Leave not a rag on, turn them out of doors.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, II. 534. Thus Ripheus, Dymas, all the Trojan Train, Lay down their own Attire and strip the slain.
1825. Scott, Talism., v. He beheld the anchorite stripping his shoulders with frantic haste of their shaggy mantle.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, lxv. It meant stripping him naked,… and then beating him to death with rods.
refl. c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 714. Anon he preyde hire strepen hire al naked.
c. 1450. Gesta Rom., xiii. 43. He strepid him, and shewid his woundis.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. iii. 147. Who led me instantly vnto his Caue, There stript himselfe.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Mandelslo’s Trav., 27. I made some difficulty to accept of the profers they made me to strip themselves naked.
1720. Prior, Truth & Falshood, 23. The Nymph … Stript her self naked to the skin.
1839. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 78. He then stripped himself, and dived round the net.
1872. [see BUFF sb.2 3].
intr. for refl. 1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 31. Benches, where you sit down, and lay your cloaths after you have stript.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 308. The other, being a good swimmer, stripped and put off to it.
1896. A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, lv. Now that other lads than I Strip to bathe on Severn shore.
† b. fig. phrase. [Cf. Fr. ‘se despouiller avant que se coucher’ (Cotgr.).]
1675. South, Serm. (1692), 571. Some fond, easy Fathers think fit to strip themselves before they lie down to their long sleep, and to settle their whole Estates upon their Sons.
c. transf. (jocular nonce-use).
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 274. Therefore on, or strippe your sword starke naked.
d. To divest (a person, oneself) of outer garments, or of some specified outer garment. Const. of, † out of. Sometimes in phr. to strip to, † into, † unto (the shirt or other inner garment).
c. 1422. Hoccleve, Jereslaus’ Wife, 233. He strypid hir anoon left al delay, Vn-to hir smok.
1530. Tindale, Gen. xxxvii. 23. They strypte him [Ioseph] out of his gay coote that was vpon him.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 63. Diverse offenders … came wel appareled to Westmynster & sodeynly stryped them into their shertes.
a. 1627. H. Shirley, Mart. Soldier, V. (1638), I 1 b. How comes she to this habite? Went she thus in? Epid. No Sir, mine owne hands stript her into rags.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1188. Then like a Robber [thou] stripdst them of thir robes.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 133. I have known mechanics frequently contract fatal diseases, by working stript at an open window.
1822. Byron, Juan, VII. lxxiii. An old man … besmear’d with dust, Stript to his waistcoat.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., viii. Two or three archers showed themselves, stripped of their tunics, and only attired in their shirts and hose.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., xvi. He had already stripped himself of his wrappings,… and … at once followed Clara to the squire’s room.
fig. 1675. H. Teonge, Diary (1825), 68. Ther fore our Admirall strips himself to his shirt; viz. he stays before the towne only with 3 shipps more.
e. intr. for refl. Also of an athlete, a pugilist, etc.: To take off one’s ordinary wearing apparel in preparation for a contest.
1688. Bunyan, Heavenly Footman (1724), 27. If thou intendest to win, thou must Strip, thou must lay aside every Weight.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 51, ¶ 5. [The author] in the Rover, makes a Country Squire strip to his Holland Drawers…. The Pleasantry of Stripping almost Naked has been since practised … very successfully at Bartholomew Fair.
1833. Q. Rev., XLIX. 391. Whether it be the prize-fighter who strips in the ring, or the race-horse at the starting-post.
1887. Shearman, Athletics, 73. A sprinter, too, to use a cant phrase of pedestrianism, ‘strips big’—i. e. looks bigger stripped than he does in his clothes.
f. trans. To deprive of armor, insignia, ornaments; also fig. Also const. † out of.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 148. To ransake in the taas of bodyes dede, Hem for to strepe of harneys and of wede.
1592. Stow, Ann., 665. His souldiors were stripped out of their harnes, and let go.
1622. C. Fitz-Geffry, Elisha, 24. Doe they ake to bee … stripped [printed shipped] of their Jewels as the Israelites were?
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 640. What heathen would have dar’d To strip Jove’s statue of his oaken wreath, And hang it up in honour of a man?
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. iv. Caron … regains his Lawsuit…; strips Reporter Goezman of the judicial ermine.
1866. Sir T. Seaton, Cadet to Colonel, II. iii. 86. The mutineers were stripped of their uniforms.
† g. To discharge (a liveried servant). Obs.
1756. Foote, Engl. ret. fr. Paris, I. Wks. 1799, I. 97. If you suffer that fellow to enter my doors again, I’ll strip and discard you the very minute.
h. To remove the clothing of (a racehorse); also intr. of a horse, to undergo this process.
1730. Cheny, List Horse-Matches, 35. The three … run all on the wrong side a Post, at doing which Sweetest when naked broke away to the Place where they strip’d her.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ix. 83. The bell for saddling rang, and the horses came out. The mare stripped beautifully, as fine as a star.
1860. Baily’s Mag., I. 110. We have never seen a better-looking lot of two-year olds stripped at so early a period of the year.
2. fig. a. To divest or dispossess (a person, oneself) of attributes, titles, rights, honors, offices, etc. Const. † out of, † from, of.
c. 1320. Castle of Love, 431, in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 366. Ne helpeþ him no þing … Þat his fo … I-strupt him al start-naked, Of miȝt and strengþe al bare I-maked.
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtier, II. (1900), 117. The prince stripping himself of the person of a prince, and minglinge himself equallye with his underlinges.
1608. Shaks., Lear, IV. iii. 45 (Qos.). His own vnkindnes That stript her from his benediction.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 621. Stephen afterwards stript him out of these Honours.
1663. Patrick, Parab. Pilgrim, x. (1687), 56. He ought to strip himself of all undue affections to the world.
1675. Bunyan, Saved by Grace, Wks. (1692), 561/1. Of his Godhead he could not strip himself.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., v. (1782), I. 148. Many cities of the east were stript of their ancient honours.
1851. Robertson, Serm., Ser. II. i. (1864), 2. He stripped the so-called religious party … of their respectability.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 126. Queensberry was stripped of all his employments.
1880. Dixon, Windsor, III. xxiv. 245. The cardinal stripped him of his deanery.
1906. C. Bigg, Wayside Sk. Eccl. Hist., iii. 81. Strip him of his mantle of Euphuism and you will find him always sensible and candid.
b. To denude or divest (a thing) of attributes.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxv. § 3. There is no necessitie of stripping sacraments out of all such attire of Ceremonies as mans wisedome hath at any time clothed them withall.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., III. xi. § 7. When I shall see any of those Combatants, strip all his Terms of Ambiguity and Obscurity,… I shall think him a Champion for Knowledge, Truth, and Peace.
1746. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 272. Sometimes I have seen that resplendent globe, stript of her radiance.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxix. Your friend, sir, must at least strip his proposals of their fine gilding.
1856. N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 39. The canonical writings have, in the process, been stripped of every claim to our regard.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, x. 161. I doubt the wisdom of stripping all social events of everything that appeals to the imagination.
1908. Programme of Modernism, 223. The ecclesiastical authority … should strip itself of that external pomp which adorns it in the eyes of the public.
c. To expose the character or nature of (a person or thing).
1619. H. Hutton, Follies Anat., B 7. Shutting my Muse in silence, least she strip This Saint-like creature with a Satyres whip.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 494. He hides behind a magisterial air His own offences, and strips others bare. Ibid. (1781), Expost., 141. He stripp’d th’ impostors in the noon-day sun; Show’d that they follow’d all they seem’d to shun.
3. To plunder, spoil; to deprive totally (whether justly or otherwise) of possessions, or of something specified; to render destitute.
† a. without const. Obs.
For slang uses see quot. a. 1700.
a. 1225. Juliana, 62. Þu … deidest … ant stepe adun & struptest [MS. Bodl. herhedest] helle.
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Ireland, 144. Thay [the governors of Ireland] … pulled & strope ham that non harme dydde.
1612. S. Rid, Art of Jugling, C 4 b. He that hath the first dice, is like alwaies to stripp and rob all the table about.
1692. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 530. They also brought off 50 wounded men, and divers of the dead with them, the enemy haveing not then stript the feild.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Strip, c. to Rob or Gut a House, to unrig any Body, or to Bite them of their Money. Strip the ken, c. to Gut the House. Strip the Table, c. to Winn all the Money on the Place.
b. const. of. Common in 17–18th c. Now rare.
1594. Selimus, Greene’s Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 216. We that haue fought with mighty Prester John, And stript th’ Ægyptian soldan of his camp.
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Andria, IV. v. 86. Despoliavit nos omnibus. He hath not left vs a dish to eate our meat in. He hath stript vs of al.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 143. Many a one here is borne to a fair estate, and is strip’t of it.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1727), VI. 114. An endeavour to strip him of his Friends.
1726. Whole Art Mod. Gaming, 27. It is about a thousand to one but he is so unlucky, as to come away clean stript of all his Money.
1727. [E. Dorrington], Philip Quarll (1816), 78. Yearly stripping the eagles of their eggs had prevented their increase.
1737. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 266. His fate was to be strip’d of all he had in Sweden.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., VII. Wks. 1851, IV. 200. [They] in the space of a few weeks, stripping him entirely of his dominions, drove him … to take refuge in the court of Bavaria.
c. To deprive or rid (a substance or thing) of.
1675. G. Harvey, Dis. Lond., xxiv. 265. The Basis whereof is Antimony stripped of its venenous Sulphur.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 491. Macquer first discovered, that Prussiated Iron, or Berlin blue, might be stripped of the tinging matter by digestion with alkalis.
1837. P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 71. Plants are often stripped of their colours by the operation of the same agents through which they originally acquired them.
4. To denude (a thing) of its covering, esp. (a tree) of its bark, (a seed) of its skin, (a fruit) of its rind.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 148. Heo haueð bipiled mine figer—irend of al þe rinde, despoiled [MS. C. istruped] hire sterc naked.
1660. in Verney Mem. (1904), II. 99. A greate parcell of silke wch was that day to bee delivered, and at the day of delivery we have a little trouble in weighing of itt, stripping of itt, and severall other things.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 688. Thou best anana,… Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat, Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove!
1823. W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1853), 163. They have been stripping trees (taking the bark off) about five or six days.
1841. Penny Cycl., XXI. 184/1. When the seed is stripped of its testa.
1883. Hampsh. Gloss., Strip, to bark the oak tree.
† 5. To skin (an animal; in Hunting spec. a hare). Obs.
c. 1400. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xxxiv. Þenne shulde she [sc. the hare] be stripped all, saue the heede.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hunting, e iii b. Now to speke of the bestes when thay be slayne How many be strypte and how many be flayne. All that bere skyne and talow and Rounge leue me Shall be flayne safe the hare for he shall stripte be.
1530. Tindale, Lev. i. 6. And let the burntofferynges be strypped and hewed in peces.
1575. Turberv., Venerie, 100. An hart or a bucke is flayed, a hare strypped.
1677. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat. (ed. 2), 15. The Hare is Stripped or Cased.
1770. G. White, Selborne, Let. to Pennant, March. Understanding that it was not stripped, I proceeded to examine this rare quadruped [sc. a moose].
6. To deprive (a plant of its foliage or fruit); to remove (seed or grain from the straw).
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 504. Crop luxuriant Straglers, nor be loath To strip the Branches of their leafy Growth.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 87. The Rook is a subtil Fowl, and will strip a Walnut Tree in a little time.
1759. Mills, trans. Duhamel’s Husb., I. ii. (1762), 3. We sometimes see trees strip’d by insects.
1837. P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 74. If the upper part of a branch is stripped of its leaves.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 110. The plan of stripping the corn from the straw by means of a scutcher.
7. To empty, make bare, clear out (a place, thing) of its contents, ornaments, etc.
1616. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iii. 59. The bowels of our mother were not ript For Mader-pits, nor the sweet meadowes stript Of their choise beauties.
1753. Challoner, Cath. Chr. Instr., 220. Our Altars are also uncovered and stript of all their Ornaments.
1765. Lond. Chron., 14–17 Sept., 272/1. And while she went in a fright, to see if it was true, he [a thief] in the mean time stripped the room of things to the value of 30 shillings.
1826. Lamb, Pop. Fallacies, xi. His goodly shelves are one by one stript of his favourite old authors.
1828–32. Webster, Strip,… 7. To deprive; to make bare by cutting, grazing or other means; as, cattle strip the ground of its herbage.
1894. Bridges, Feast of Bacchus, i. 112. I stripped the house for a sale.
1913. J. H. Morrison, On Trail of Pioneers, xxvi. 125. It was no loss when the islands were stripped of the fragrant wood.
b. To strip up: (see quot. 1893). Now dial.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva, xxvii. 72. Cutting all the rest away … stripping up such as you spare from their extravagant Branches.
1893. Wiltsh. Gloss., Strip up, to shroud [i.e., trim] the lower part of a tree, as is usually done with hedgerow timber at intervals.
† c. Used with allusion to STRIP sb.1 Obs.
1682. trans. Charter of Cinque Ports, 138. Strip or Estrepement is a Writ for taking Lands from him that strips and spoils them.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), II. 409. This may excuse the trustees, if they … attempt to strip the estate of the timber.
d. ? To clear (land) of a crop.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 2. The reason for stripping turnips is to supply food to the sheep in the most convenient form. The portion of the turnip-ground allotted to sheep is … drawn or stript, that is, a certain proportion of the turnips is left on the ground, for the use of the sheep, and the other is carried away to the steading, to be consumed by the cattle.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 April, 14/1. Of this quantity 320,000 acres were not reaped … or what crop there was was mown for hay. This reduces the area actually stripped for wheat to 1,630,000 acres.
8. To take away the accessories, equipment or furniture of; to dismantle.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, XIV. xxii. § 2. 207. Thus the first Quarter is Stript … in order to be distributed. Ibid., xxiv. Dict. 391. Strip a Form. [Reference to prec. quot.]
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 125/2. [Printing] Strip a Form, is to take away all the Furniture from about it, and lett it so remain on the Letter board to be distributed.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v., To Strip the masts, is to unrig a ship, or deprive the masts of their machinery and furniture.
1798. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. p. clvi. The Guerrier and Conquerant made a very inefficient resistance, the latter being soon stripped of her main and mizen-masts.
1807. Sir R. Wilson, Jrnl., 24 Sept., in Life (1862), II. viii. 370. When the squall passed we attempted to hoist the sails again but again we were stripped.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Stripped to the Girt-line, all the standing-rigging and furniture having been cleared off the masts in the course of dismantling.
1881. Greener, Gun, 262. Stripping and repairing guns. To take to pieces a breech-loader for cleaning or repairs, first remove the fore-end and barrels. Ibid. To strip breech-actions,… the first thing will be to remove the spring. Ibid., 263. To strip a muzzle-loader, first remove the lock.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 134. Strip a forme, to take away the furniture from the pages of a forme, and thus leave it naked.
II. To doff, take off, peel away.
9. To remove (the clothes, a garment, trappings, hair) from a person, body.
a. With adv. off, away, or with prep. off, from.
c. 1290. St. Francis, 11, in S. Eng. Leg., 54. He strepte of is cloþes of is rug and ȝaf þis pouere knyȝt.
c. 1290. Beket, 2201, Ibid., 169. Ase heo strepten of is cloþes, al a-boue he founde Clerkene cloþes.
13[?]. Coer de L., 3399. And loke that hee her here off strype, Off hed, off berd, and eke off lyppe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 143. And to the hors he goth hym faire and wel, He strepeth of the brydel right anon.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 173. Þis Cambises … made men stripe of þe skyn of a iuge, for he hadde i-ȝeue a false dome.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 220. This Prince … stript off his gorgious habilliments.
1797. Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., Old Woman’s T. (1799), I. 389. Stripping away his upper garment, and displaying the badge of knighthood upon his shoulder.
1895. R. W. Chambers, King in Yellow (1902), 220. As she spoke she stripped off her gloves.
fig. 1340. Ayenb., 98. Þet hi ous delyuri of þe zeue dyadliche zennes and hise strepe of al oure herten and ine hare stede zette … þe zeue uirtues.
1549. J. Olde, Erasm. Par. Ephes., Prol. ¶ iiij b. Christe woulde not stycke cleane on our backes, onlesse olde Adam be stryped cleane of, wyth all his ragged rotten patches of infidelitie and sinfulnes.
1766. J. Towers, Brit. Biog., I. 127. [Chaucer] discovered nature in all her appearances, and stripped off every disguise.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 583. Habits are soon assum’d: but, when we strive To strip them off, ’tis being flay’d alive.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 1. 115. Picture after picture strips the veil from the corruption of the mediæval Church.
1884. L. J. Jennings, Croker Papers, I. i. 3. The immense correspondence of all kinds which he left strips away disguises.
b. without adv.: To divest oneself of. Chiefly Sc.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., cii. [She] never once attempted to strip a single petticoat, or cover the board, as her last stake, with her head-clothes.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VI. vi. The guests all stript their coats.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 212. Aleck stripped his buckskins for the attempt.
1870. J. K. Hunter, Life Studies of Char., xliv. 271. They … had a consultation as to whether … one of them should strip his stockings and shoon and carry the other on his back.
fig. 1853. Lytton, My Novel, XII. xxx. Strip the mask, Audley Egerton; let the world know you for what you are!
† 10. To take as plunder or spoil. Obs.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 195. Erest he strepte of him his shep.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. i. 11. For all the Temporall Lands … Would they strip from vs.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XVII. 102. He know at once who stripp’d Euphorbus’ arms.
11. To remove (an adhering covering of skin, bark, lead, paper, etc.); to pull off (leaves, fruit) from a tree, etc. Also to strip off.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 27. Take Almaundys … & strype of þe skyn.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, b iij b. Take a knyfe … and stripe the skynne a way from the necke.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 86/2. [Wett-Glover.] Pulling is stripping the Wooll of the skin. Ibid., III. 97/1. [Cushion and Bed Terms.] Stripping the Feathers from the Quills.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, I. 295. Some strip the Skin, some portion out the Spoil.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekeeper (1778), 363. Gather your currants when the sun is hot upon them, strip them from the stalks.
c. 1770. Mrs. Glasse, Compl. Confectioner, 26. Take young and thick stalks of angelica…, strip off the skins, and cut them into narrow slips.
1780. Mirror, No. 93, ¶ 8. The best china was set out…. The covers were stripped from the worked chair-bottoms.
1836. Philos. Mag., Dec., 484. So perfect is the sheet of copper thus formed, that, on being stripped off, it has the polish and even a counterpart of every scratch of the plate on which it is deposited.
1849. M. Taylor’s Builder’s Price-bk., 63. Stripping and relaying ladies, countess, and duchess slating, per square, 0 10 0.
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 22. Directly the feathers are stripped from the poultry, throw them loosely in the corner.
1887. W. J. Harrison, Hist. Photogr., xiii. 113. In the same year (1855) the Frenchman Galliard coated collodion negatives with gelatine, and then stripped them from the glass.
1891. Law Rep., Weekly Notes, 78/2. The act of the defendants in stripping off the roof amounted to a forcible entry.
1913. J. G. Frazer, Psyche’s Task (ed. 2), iii. 30. When he has stripped the fruit [from the tree], the rascal restores the charm to its proper place.
b. intr. Or bark, membrane: To lend or adapt itself to the process of peeling or decortication. Of a layer of metal: To become detached.
1877. Jefferies, Gamekeeper at H., i. (1890), 15. In the spring, when the oak timber is throwed (because, you see, the sap be rising, and the bark strips then).
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 712. The leptomeninges stripping, on the contrary, with undue ease.
1905. Electro-plating (ed. P. N. Hasluck), 152. Silver will strip under the burnisher when it is deposited too fast or too slow.
12. To remove, roll up (a sleeve). Now only with up. Also absol.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. iii. 47. Then will he strip his sleeue, and shew his skarres.
1607. B. Barnes, Divils Charter, Prol. A 2 b. Presently the Pronotary strippeth vp Alexanders sleeue and letteth his arme bloud in a saucer.
1711. ‘J. Distaff,’ Char. Don Sacheverellio, 5. He stript up, and shew’d the amazed Congregation a most thundring Arm.
c. 1815. Houlston’s Juvenile Tracts, vii. 9. If his shirt sleeves were stripped up to his elbows.
13. To slip off (a jewel) from the arm, a ring from the finger.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., II. iv. 101. I begge but leaue to ayre this Iewell…. She stript it from her Arme.
1652. J. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, ii. 186. Strip from your fingers your gold rings.
1865. Miss Cary, Ball. Lyrics & Hymns, 117. She stript from her finger the shining ring.
14. To remove entirely, clear off (vegetation).
1839. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 261. They have almost stripped the trees and thickets along the swamp road since I first came here.
III. Technical uses.
15. Tin-washing. (See quot. 1674.) Also to wash out (gold).
1674. Ray, Prep. Tin (E.D.S.), 12. Washing and sifting of it, which they call stripping of it.
1875. J. H. Collins, Metal Mining, 54. The tin gravel is ‘stripped’ at a cost of 3s. to 6s. per ton.
1871. Simpson, Recitat., 19. The wash dirt will be full of gold, ready to strip.
16. Tobacco-manuf. To remove the leaves from the stems of (tobacco). Also absol.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xxii. (Roxb.), 274/1. Termes used by Tobacconists. Strip it, is take all the stalks away from the leaues.
1786. Act 26 Geo. III., c. 52 § 1. No … Tobacco stalks stripped, nor Snuff manufactured from Tobacco so imported, shall be removed [etc.].
1883. Killebrew, Rep. Culture & Curing Tobacco U.S., 154. If there should happen to be no damp days when it is desired to strip, a few days in the cellar will impart the necessary moisture. Ibid., 186. In stripping tobacco, the leaves are pulled from the stalks and tied in bundles.
b. To remove the stalk and midrib from (tobacco-leaf). Cf. STEM v.4 3 a.
1844. Rep. Sel. Comm. Tobacco Trade, Min. Evid., 233. Tobacco could be stripped here at from 18d. to 2s. a cwt.
1881. Spons’ Encycl. Industr. Arts, IV. 1341. Cutting is the process by which the damped [tobacco-]leaves, whether stripped or not, are most extensively prepared for smoking in pipes and cigarettes.
17. Mech. To tear off (the thread from a screw or bolt, the teeth from a wheel).
1873. Nelthropp, Watch-work, 21. The teeth of the scape-wheel will, by revolving against the jagged edge, be cut off; the wheel is then stript.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2430. Strip (Machinery), to tear the thread off a screw.
b. To rip off the screw thread of (a cannon-ball or bullet); to render incapable of receiving the rotatory direction from the rifling of the barrel.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 477. Instead of one quarter of a turn, which was the utmost that could be safely given in the old way, without danger of stripping the ball, a whole turn round the barrel, in its length, can be given to the two grooved rifles.
c. intr. for refl.
1854. Chamb. Jrnl., II. 202. If the charge of gunpowder be inordinately great, the ball may strip, to use the technical phrase; in other words, it may have its screw-thread rendered ineffective by the mere force of discharge.
1855. A. Piper, Milit. & Nav. Dict., s.v., A rifle bullet is said to strip when it passes out of the barrel of a rifle … without receiving the spiral motion on its axis.
1881. Greener, Gun, 169. Immediately the barrel gets hot and expands, the bullets strip.
18. Mining. To lay bare (a mineral deposit, etc.): see quot. 1839.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 842. If … the vein be quite distinct from the rock, the labour may be facilitated, as well as the separation of the ore, by disengaging the vein on one of its faces through a certain extent, the rock being attacked separately. This operation is called stripping the vein.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxvi. 490. On ‘stripping’ the fault towards the trough, the limestone was found to be in contact with a seam of coal.
1887. Times (weekly ed.), 9 Dec., 1/4. Mr. Morgan has … now as the phrase goes, ‘stripped the lode,’ so that many thousands of tons of stone, richly laden with gold, are ready to be stoped.
19. To smooth (a metal surface) by filing or the like; to smooth the surface of (a file-blank) preparatory to cutting the teeth; also see quot. 1880.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 301. The file is now in a state either to be stripped or ground.
1855. Franke, Beil’s Technol. Wörterb., II. 521. To Strip a piece of work (to finish-off with a smooth file, or to smooth the surface with a hard file), Abfeilen. Finir de limer.
1880. Encycl. Brit., XI. 279/2. The [gun-]barrels are then ‘stripped’—that is, turned down the whole length to correspond with the bore.
1898. J. Southward, Mod. Printing, I. 96. [The leads are finished] by ‘stripping,’ or ‘shaving,’ in a stripping machine.
20. Carding. a. (See quot. 1835.) b. To remove fluff, etc., from the teeth of (a card).
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 182. Which cylinder is employed as a stripper in place of a doffing-comb, to take off or strip the slivers of wool from the doffing cylinder.
1891. Labour Commission, Gloss., Stripper, the man who strips the cards or leather combs of fluff.
21. Cloth-making. (See quot. 1904.)
1896. W. M. Gardner, Wool Dyeing, 32. This process is frequently resorted to for ‘stripping’ off the colour of dyed material previous to re-dyeing.
1904. Eng. Dial. Dict., Strip v.,… A cloth-making term: to partially remove the colour from dyed material when the colour is found to be too ‘full.’
22. Metallurgy. (See quot.)
1884. W. H. Greenwood, Steel & Iron (ed. 2), § 642. Steel ingots, when newly stripped—that is, withdrawn from the moulds in which they have been cast—are far too hot in the interior for immediate rolling.
23. Electrometallurgy. To remove (the plating from a plated article, the metal from a positive pole, etc.) by electrolysis. Also intr. of a plating: To come off.
1877. A. Watt, Electro-Metallurgy (ed. 6), 155. In coating steel or iron articles with nickel, deposition should not be allowed to take place too rapidly at first, otherwise the metal will be liable to strip. Ibid. (1880), (ed. 7), 114. Nickel-plated articles may be stripped in this solution by immersing them in it for a few moments.
1880. J. W. Urquhart, Electroplating, vi. 162. Deposits of nickel having a brilliant appearance on leaving the solution … are very apt to strip.
1898. Threlfall, Laboratory Arts, iv. 306. The platinum foil testing cathode may also be ‘stripped’ by making it an anode.
IV. 24. Comb.: strip bush slang (see quot.); strip-jack-naked dial. = beggar-my-neighbour (see BEGGAR v. 3); strip-me-naked slang, gin.
1865. Hotten’s Slang Dict. (ed. 2), *Strip-bush, a fellow who steals clothes put out to dry after washing.
1881. Oxfordsh. (Suppl.) Gloss., *Strip Jack naked, a game at cards sometimes called ‘Byet (beat) my neighbour out of doors.’
1751. Gen. Advertiser, 7 March, 1/2 (N. & Q., 5th Ser. VII. 69/2). *Strip-me-naked, or Royal Gin for Ever.
1756. [see GUNPOWDER 3].
