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• strip-mine
  strip-mine

  verb (used with or without object)

  to excavate by open-cut methods.
• strip mine
  strip mine

  An open mine, especially a coal mine, whose seams or outcrops run close to ground level and are exposed by the removal of overlying soil and rock. Strip mining can extract coal covered by as much as 60 m (200 ft) of rock and soil. If the seams roll through hills instead of lying flat, a series of tiers or contours are used to extract the coal or ore. Strip mining has been criticized for being ecologically destructive and for causing pollution of water resources, as the removed soil and rock are often dumped in lower-lying areas. Mining operators are sometimes required to restore soil and vegetation and to clean up the mining site.

strip-mine

American  

[strip-mahyn] / ˈstrɪpˌmaɪn /

verb (used with or without object)

strip-mined, strip-mining

1. to excavate by open-cut methods.

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strip mine Scientific  

/ strĭp /

1. An open mine, especially a coal mine, whose seams or outcrops run close to ground level and are exposed by the removal of overlying soil and rock. Strip mining can extract coal covered by as much as 60 m (200 ft) of rock and soil. If the seams roll through hills instead of lying flat, a series of tiers or contours are used to extract the coal or ore. Strip mining has been criticized for being ecologically destructive and for causing pollution of water resources, as the removed soil and rock are often dumped in lower-lying areas. Mining operators are sometimes required to restore soil and vegetation and to clean up the mining site.

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Other Word Forms

• strip mine
  noun

Etymology

Origin of strip-mine

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

But if we are to experience a revival of the studia humanitatis—even as machine “intelligence” threatens to strip-mine the whole human archive—it will come through late-modern doubt and critique and from a new romanticism too.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025

But it’s the crows and other creatures — including raccoons and skunks — that have caught people’s attention this season as the animals strip-mine yards and medians and parks in pursuit of tasty snacks.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 10, 2021

The Steelers’ refusal to strip-mine the roster and start over is now paying off.

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2020

NSO Group is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm known for developing software that can take control of a cell phone and strip-mine it for data.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 9, 2019

Strip-mine planting is better than none at all, but such soil as is left after a strip-mine operation is hardly the best.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting Rochester, N.Y. August 31 and September 1, 1953 by Northern Nut Growers Association