subs. (colloquial).—A characteristic; kind; KIDNEY (q.v.). Spec. (American) = persons of the same political colour.

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  1613.  W. BROWNE, Britannia’s Pastorals, i. 2.

        I shall go on: and first in diff’ring STRIPE,
The flood-god’s speech thus tune on oaten pipe.

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  1856.  New York Herald, 7 July. The call of the Soft-shell Convention was signed by twelve men of the Free-Soil Buffalo STRIPE.

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  1875.  STEDMAN, Victorian Poets, vii. v. 256. Various poems are of a democratic, liberal STRIPE.

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  THE STRIPES, subs. phr. (American).—Short for ‘STARS AND STRIPES’ (q.v.).

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