[f. STRIP v.3 + -ING1.] The action of STRIP v.3
1895. F. M. Halford, Making a Fishery, 194. Finding that she [the female fish] was not quite ripe for stripping he turned her on to a shallow.
1899. Moreton Frewen, in 19th Cent., Sept., 399. The ‘stripping’ of the shad by the hatchery officials had only terminated the previous week.
b. concr. (pl.) = STROKING vbl. sb. 2.
1781. J. Hutton, Tour to Caves (ed. 2), Gloss. 97. Stripings, the last part of a cow’s milk.
1808. J. C. Curwen, Hints Feeding Stock, 145. I was doubtful of the accuracy of my own dairy, which stated a pound of butter to eight quarts of strippings.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 459. That which comes last, the afterings or strippings, as it is commonly called, is much the richer part of new milk.
c. Comb.: stripping cow, a cow that is going dry and requires to be ‘stripped’ in milking.
1894. Times, 16 April, 4/4. Supplies of Irish store cattle, consisting chiefly of heifers and stripping cows, continue to be imported in pretty large numbers.
