strip (v.)

"remove the clothes of, deprive of covering," early 13c., strepen, a specialized sense of Old English -striepan, -strypan (transitive) "to plunder, rob, despoil" (as in West Saxon bestrypan "to plunder," Anglian -strepan). This is from Proto-Germanic *straupijan (source also of 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"). Related: Stripped; stripping.

In reference to screw threads, "pull or tear off," by 1839; of gear wheels, by 1873. The intransitive sense of "take off one's clothes, undress" is from late 14c.; the meaning "perform a strip-tease" is by 1929.

Strip poker is attested by 1904.

"Say, Bill how, did the game come out?"

"It ended in a tie."

"Oh, were you playing strip poker?"

[The Technology Monthly and Harvard Engineering Journal, June 1916]

Hence also strip search, by 1947, in accounts of World War II prison camps.

"long, narrow, flat piece," mid-15c., specifically "narrow piece of cloth or paper," a doublet of stripe (n.1) if not a variant of it, and like it probably from Middle Low German strippe "strap, thong" or another Low German source.

The sense extension to wood, land, etc. is by 1630s. The airport sense is from 1936; the race track sense is by 1941.

The sense in comic strip, "sequence of small drawings telling a story," is by 1920. The meaning "street noted for clubs, bars, etc." is attested from 1939, originally in reference to Los Angeles' Sunset Strip.

A strip mine (by 1892) is so called because the overlying soil or surface material is removed in successive parallel strips; strip (v.) as a verb meaning "pare off the surface of in strips" is by 1839. Strip-mine as a verb is by 1916.