- 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?"
strip search is from 1947, in reference to World War II prison camps.
"It ended in a tie."
"Oh, were you playing strip poker?" - 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.