strip

¹

[ strip ]

/ strɪp /

||

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WATCH NOW: When Did "Strip" Start To Mean Getting Naked?

WATCH NOW: When Did "Strip" Start To Mean Getting Naked?

Isn't it interesting when a word can have so many different meanings ... but the one we all think of when we hear the word "strip" is about getting naked. Why is that?

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verb (used with object), stripped or stript, strip·ping.

to deprive of covering: to strip a fruit of its rind.

to deprive of clothing; make bare or naked.

to take away or remove: to strip sheets from the bed.

to deprive or divest: to strip a tree of its bark; to strip him of all privileges.

to clear out or empty: to strip a house of its contents.

to deprive of equipment; dismantle: to strip a ship of rigging.

to dispossess, rob, or plunder: to strip a man of his possessions.

to remove varnish, paint, wax, or the like from: The wood should be stripped and then refinished.

to separate the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco).

to remove the midrib, as from tobacco leaves.

Machinery. to break off the thread of (a screw, bolt, etc.) or the teeth of (a gear), as by applying too much force.

to remove the mold from (an ingot).

to draw the last milk from (a cow), especially by a stroking and compressing movement.

to draw out (milk) in this manner.

Photoengraving. to remove (the emulsion from a film base) in order to place it on a glass plate for exposure to the metal plate.

Textiles.

to clean (a carding roller) by removing waste fibers.
to transfer (fibers) from one carding roller to another.
to remove (color) from a cloth or yarn in order to redye it another color.
to remove color from (a cloth or yarn).

Bridge. to lead successively winning cards from (a hand) in order to dispose of as many cards as necessary preparatory to surrendering the lead to an opponent so that any card the opponent plays will be to his or her disadvantage.

Mining. to strip-mine.

Chemistry. to remove the most volatile components from, as by distillation or evaporation.

Finance. to split (a bond) for selling separately as a principal certificate and as interest coupons.

Surgery. to remove (a vein) by pulling it inside out through a small incision, using a long, hooked instrument.

verb (used without object), stripped or stript, strip·ping.

to strip something.

to remove one's clothes.

to perform a striptease.

to become stripped: Bananas strip easily.

noun

a striptease.

Nearby words

stringpiece, strings, strings attached, stringy, stringy-bark, strip, strip bond, strip cartoon, strip city, strip club, strip cropping

Origin of strip

¹

1175–1225; (v.) Middle English strippe, Old English *stryppan (compare Middle High German strupfen to strip off); replacing Middle English stripen, strepen, strupen (compare Old English bestrȳpan to rob, plunder)

SYNONYMS FOR strip

1 uncover, peel, decorticate.

7 despoil. Strip, deprive, dispossess, divest imply more or less forcibly taking something away from someone. To strip is to take something completely (often violently) from a person or thing so as to leave in a destitute or powerless state: to strip a man of all his property; to strip the bark from a tree. To deprive is to take away forcibly or coercively what one has, or to withhold what one might have: to deprive workers of their livelihood. To dispossess is to deprive of the holding or use of something: to dispossess the renters of a house. Divest usually means depriving of rights, privileges, powers, or the like: to divest a king of authority.

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ANTONYMS FOR strip

6 supply, furnish.

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Definition for strip (2 of 2)

strip

²

[ strip ]

/ strɪp /

noun

a narrow piece, comparatively long and usually of uniform width: a strip of cloth, metal, land, etc.

a continuous series of drawings or pictures illustrating incidents, conversation, etc., as a comic strip.

Aeronautics.

an airstrip; runway.
landing strip.

Philately. three or more stamps joined either in a horizontal or vertical row.

Informal. striplight.

(sometimes initial capital letter) a road, street, or avenue, usually in a city or a main thoroughfare between outlying suburbs, densely lined on both sides by a large variety of retail stores, gas stations, restaurants, bars, etc.: Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

verb (used with object), stripped, strip·ping.

to cut, tear, or form into strips.

Printing. to combine (a piece of film) with another, especially for making a combination plate of lines and halftones.

to broadcast (a television series) in multiple related segments, as daily from Monday through Friday.

Origin of strip

²

1425–75; late Middle English, cognate with or < Middle Low German strippe strap; see stripe¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for strip

They then would expect the Senate to strip that amendment and compromise simply on keeping government open for 60 days.
Bachmann and Pelosi vs. Boehner and Obama Over Spending Bill|Ben Jacobs|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“You can cut my hair, you can bald me, you can strip me naked and take away my dignity,” she said.
A Quorum For Change: The Fight For Global LGBT Equality|Justin Jones|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Next door, a strip mall popped and hissed as unknown accelerants aided in its fiery destruction.
Raging Protesters Set Ferguson on Fire|Justin Glawe|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You mentioned Ecleftic, and the strip club anthem “Perfect Gentleman” is on there.
Wyclef Jean Talks Lauryn Hill, the Yele Haiti Controversy, and Chris Christie|Marlow Stern|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

During what she describes as a “low point,” Banks worked at a strip club in Queens to make ends meet.
Azealia Banks Opens Up About Her Journey from Stripping to Rap Stardom|Marlow Stern|November 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The only redeeming feature was a better garden than most London houses have, a strip as wide as the house, and thirty yards long.
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I (of II)|Charles Darwin
This strip contains, in the upper part, eight or ten glyphs.
A Possible Solution of the Number Series on Pages 51 to 58 of the Dresden Codex|Carl E. Guthe
These are discovered in a strip of meadow near by, one only missing.
The Death Shot|Mayne Reid
So I ordered two or three of my best swimmers to strip and be ready to plunge into the river.
Life in an Indian Outpost|Gordon Casserly
The Judge raised the strip of leather and brought it down with a resounding thwack across the boy's legs.
At the Little Brown House|Ruth Alberta Brown

British Dictionary definitions for strip (1 of 2)

strip

¹

/ (strɪp) /

verb strips, stripping or stripped

to take or pull (the covering, clothes, etc) off (oneself, another person, or thing)to strip a wall; to strip a bed

(intr)

to remove all one's clothes
to perform a striptease

(tr) to denude or empty completely

(tr) to deprivehe was stripped of his pride

(tr) to rob or plunder

(tr) to remove (paint, varnish, etc) from (a surface, furniture, etc) by sanding, with a solvent, etcstripped pine

Also: pluck (tr) to pull out the old coat of hair from (dogs of certain long- and wire-haired breeds)

to remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, etc)
to separate the two sides of a leaf from the stem of (tobacco, etc)

(tr) agriculture to draw the last milk from each of the teats of (a cow)

to dismantle (an engine, mechanism, etc)

to tear off or break (the thread) from (a screw, bolt, etc) or (the teeth) from (a gear)

(often foll by down) to remove the accessories from (a motor vehicle)his car was stripped down

to remove (the most volatile constituent) from (a mixture of liquids) by boiling, evaporation, or distillation

printing (usually foll by in) to combine (pieces of film or paper) to form a composite sheet from which a plate can be made

(tr) (in freight transport) to unpack (a container)See also stuffing and stripping

noun

the act or an instance of undressing or of performing a striptease

See also strip out

Word Origin for strip

Old English bestriepan to plunder; related to Old High German stroufen to plunder, strip

British Dictionary definitions for strip (2 of 2)

strip

²

/ (strɪp) /

noun

a relatively long, flat, narrow piece of something

short for airstrip

philately a horizontal or vertical row of three or more unseparated postage stamps

the clothes worn by the members of a team, esp a football team

commerce a triple option on a security or commodity consisting of one call option and two put options at the same price and for the same periodCompare strap (def. 5)

NZ short for dosing strip

tear someone off a strip informal to rebuke (someone) angrily

verb strips, stripping or stripped

to cut or divide into strips

Word Origin for strip

C15: from Middle Dutch strīpe stripe 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for strip (1 of 2)

strip

v.

"make bare," Old English -striepan, -strypan "plunder, despoil," as in West Saxon bestrypan "to plunder," from Proto-Germanic *straupijanan (cf. Middle Dutch stropen "to strip off, to ramble about plundering," Old High German stroufen "to strip off, plunder," German streifen "strip off, touch upon, to ramble, roam, rove"). Meaning "to unclothe" is recorded from early 13c. Of screw threads, from 1839; of gear wheels, from 1873. Related: Stripped; stripping. Strip poker is attested from 1916, in a joke in "The Technology Monthly and Harvard Engineering Journal":

"Say, Bill how, did the game come out?"
"It ended in a tie."
"Oh, were you playing strip poker?"

strip search is from 1947, in reference to World War II prison camps.

Word Origin and History for strip (1 of 2)

strip

n.

"long, narrow, flat piece," mid-15c., "narrow piece of cloth," probably from Middle Low German strippe "strap, thong," related to stripe (see stripe (n.1)). Sense extension to wood, land, etc. first recorded 1630s.

Sense in comic strip is from 1920. Meaning "street noted for clubs, bars, etc." is attested from 1939, originally in reference to Los Angeles' Sunset Strip. Strip mine (n.) attested by 1892, as a verb by 1916; so called because the surface material is removed in successive parallel strips.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Medicine definitions for strip

strip

[ strĭp ]

v.

To press out or drain off by milking.

To make a subcutaneous excision of a vein in its longitudinal axis, usually of a leg vein.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.