strip

¹

[ strip ]

verb (used with object)

, stripped or (Archaic) stript, strip·ping.

1. to deprive of covering:

   Strip the peel off that orange.

   Synonyms: decorticate, peel, uncover

2. to deprive of clothing; make bare or naked:

   They stripped him and gave him new clothes befitting his station.

   Synonyms: denude

3. to take away or remove:

   I need to strip the sheets from the bed and wash them.

4. to deprive or divest:

   The lightning stripped the tree of its bark.

   The organization will strip him of all privileges.

5. to clear out or empty:

   Thieves may strip a house of all its contents.

6. to deprive of equipment; dismantle:

   If we strip the ship of rigging, we can repair it.

   Antonyms: furnish, equip, supply

7. to dispossess, rob, or plunder:

   The highwaymen stripped the man of his possessions.

   Synonyms: despoil

8. to remove varnish, paint, wax, or the like from:

   The wood should be stripped and then refinished.

9. to separate the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco).
10. to remove the midrib, as from tobacco leaves.
11. Machinery. to break off the thread of (a screw, bolt, etc.) or the teeth of (a gear), as by applying too much force.
12. to remove the mold from (an ingot).
13. to draw the last milk from (a cow), especially by a stroking and compressing movement.
14. to draw out (milk) in this manner.
15. Photoengraving. to remove (the emulsion from a film base) in order to place it on a glass plate for exposure to the metal plate.
16. Textiles.
    1. to clean (a carding roller) by removing waste fibers.
    2. to transfer (fibers) from one carding roller to another.
    3. to remove (color) from a cloth or yarn in order to redye it another color.
    4. to remove color from (a cloth or yarn).
17. 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 their disadvantage.
18. Mining. to strip-mine.
19. Chemistry. to remove the most volatile components from, as by distillation or evaporation.
20. Finance. to split (a bond) for selling separately as a principal certificate and as interest coupons.
21. 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 (Archaic) stript, strip·ping.

1. to strip something:

   They do not contain harsh detergents, such as sulfates, that can irritate, strip or dehydrate.

   When dealing with furniture stain, I always strip as gently as possible.

2. to remove one's clothes.
3. to perform a striptease.
4. to become stripped:

   Bananas strip easily.

noun

1. a striptease.

strip

²

[ strip ]

noun

1. a narrow piece, comparatively long and usually of uniform width:

   a strip of cloth, metal, land, etc.

2. a continuous series of drawings or pictures illustrating incidents, conversation, etc., as a comic strip.
3. Aeronautics.
   1. an airstrip; runway.
   2. landing strip.
4. Philately. three or more stamps joined either in a horizontal or vertical row.
5. Informal. striplight.
6. (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.

7. strip steak.
8. drag strip.

verb (used with object)

, stripped, strip·ping.

1. to cut, tear, or form into strips.
2. Printing. to combine (a piece of film) with another, especially for making a combination plate of lines and halftones.
3. to broadcast (a television series) in multiple related segments, as daily from Monday through Friday.

strip

¹

/ strɪp /

noun

1. a relatively long, flat, narrow piece of something
2. short for airstrip
3. philately a horizontal or vertical row of three or more unseparated postage stamps
4. the clothes worn by the members of a team, esp a football team
5. 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 period Compare strap
6. short for dosing strip
7. tear someone off a strip informal.
   to rebuke (someone) angrily

verb

1. to cut or divide into strips

strip

²

/ strɪp /

verb

1. to take or pull (the covering, clothes, etc) off (oneself, another person, or thing)

   to strip a wall

   to strip a bed

2. intr
   1. to remove all one's clothes
   2. to perform a striptease
3. tr to denude or empty completely
4. tr to deprive

   he was stripped of his pride

5. tr to rob or plunder
6. tr to remove (paint, varnish, etc) from (a surface, furniture, etc) by sanding, with a solvent, etc

   stripped pine

7. Alsopluck tr to pull out the old coat of hair from (dogs of certain long- and wire-haired breeds)
8. 1. to remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, etc)
   2. to separate the two sides of a leaf from the stem of (tobacco, etc)
9. tr agriculture to draw the last milk from each of the teats of (a cow)
10. to dismantle (an engine, mechanism, etc)
11. to tear off or break (the thread) from (a screw, bolt, etc) or (the teeth) from (a gear)
12. often foll by down to remove the accessories from (a motor vehicle)

    his car was stripped down

13. to remove (the most volatile constituent) from (a mixture of liquids) by boiling, evaporation, or distillation
14. printing usually foll by in to combine (pieces of film or paper) to form a composite sheet from which a plate can be made
15. tr (in freight transport) to unpack (a container) See also stuffing and stripping

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of strip¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English verb strepe(n), streppin, strippe, unattested Old English -strī(e)pan, -strȳpan, -strēpan (compare Old English bestrȳpan “to rob, plunder,” Middle High German strupfen “to strip off”)

Origin of strip²

First recorded in 1425–75; variant of late Middle English stripe, cognate with or borrowed from Middle Low German strippe “strap, thong”; stripe ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of strip¹

C15: from Middle Dutch strīpe stripe ¹

Origin of strip²

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

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

In between the customers, vendors were constantly on the move, expertly moving buckets of flowers from nearby coolers onto the floor or stripping faded petals and leaves from new bunches of flowers.

From Los Angeles Times

More broadly, they argue that Trump’s approach will strip homeless people of dignity and liberty for the crime of having nowhere to live, removing them from public view without increasing the affordable housing supply.

From Los Angeles Times

A New York priest who let popstar Sabrina Carpenter film provocative scenes for a music video inside his church has been accused of mismanagement and stripped of his duties.

From BBC

An Iranian woman will not face charges after she stripped to her underwear in an apparent anti-hijab protest at a university in Tehran, Iranian authorities said.

From BBC

Trump sharply reduced the boundaries of two monuments in Utah — Bear’s Ears and Grand Staircase — and stripped protections from a marine monument off the coast of New England to allow commercial fishing.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• deprive
• dismantle
• divest
• empty
• expose
• gut
• lift
• ransack
• remove
• rob
• tear
• withdraw