[Cogn. w. STRIPE sb.2; cf. WFlem. strippen to draw (something) between the fingers or the teeth, in order to extract the contents or remove the leaves, etc.; also strip stream of milk from a teat.]
1. trans. To extract (the milk from a cow’s udder). Now spec. to extract the milk remaining in the udder after the normal milking, esp. by a particular movement of the hand (see quot. 1844).
1610. Fletcher, Faithf. Sheph., I. ii. B 3 b. More white Then the new milke we strip before day light From the full fraighted bags of our faire flockes.
1788. W. H. Marshall, Yorksh., II. 357. To Strip; to draw the aftermilkings of cows.
1791. W. Bartram, Trav., 310. When the milkmaid has taken her share of milk, she looses the calf, who strips the cow.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 454. Stripping consists of seizing the teat firmly near the root between the face of the thumb and the side of the fore-finger.
1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, xv. Never were cows that required such ‘stripping,’ or were expected to yield such ‘afterings’ as Black Nell and Daisy that night.
2. To draw between the finger and thumb, through the closed hand, etc. In various technical uses: a. Catgut-making. (See quot.)
1883. R. Haldane, Workshop Rec., Ser. II. 320/1. [In preparing fiddle-strings] the gut … is stripped through a ring … or through a perforated brass thimble, the thumb being pressed upon the gut as it is passed through.
b. Fish-culture. To press out with the hand the ripe roe or milt from (a fish).
1884. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., I. p. cix. The mode of spawning or stripping fish … requires practice.
c. Farriery. (See quot.)
1908. Animal Management (War Office), 62. ‘Stripping’ the ears, i. e. pulling them gently through the hand from base to apex … should not be neglected.
