strip to

strip to (something)

1. To remove all or nearly all one's clothes, leaving only bare skin or some minimal articles or levels of clothing. She stripped to her undergarments and jumped into the lake. I had to strip to my boxers for the physical exam. We all stripped to the skin before stepping into the hot tub.
2. To remove someone else's clothes, leaving only bare skin or some minimal articles or levels of clothing. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "strip" and "down." I had to strip Daniel to his underwear in order to wash all that muck off him. The guards stripped the prisoner to his socks to make sure he didn't have any weapons or contraband on him.
3. To remove all of the clothes above a certain point on one's body, typically one's waist. She stripped to the waist so the doctor could examine her heartbeat and breathing.
4. To remove all of the clothes someone is wearing above a certain point on their body, typically the waist. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "strip" and "down." They stripped me to the waist so that the chemicals on my shirt wouldn't burn my skin.
See also: strip

strip to something

to take off one's clothing down to a particular level, usually to one's skin, the waist, or some euphemistic way of expressing nudity or near nudity. Tom stripped to the waist and continued to labor in the hot sun. Tom stripped to the bare essentials and got ready to be examined by the doctor.
See also: strip
References in classic literature ?
All that was necessary was to let the two strips of paper drop back into their places--to fasten the strip to the wall in Anne's room, by tightening the two lower strings--and then to replace the nails which held the loose strip on Geoffrey's side.
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Attach one fabric-A strip to the weaving needle according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Take it or weave it basket
Stitch multicolor stripe 2 1/2 x 6 1/2" strip to right side of blue texture 6 1/2" square to make pieced unit.
Gold rush: quick strips: striking prints with metallic gold accents add drama to this simple-to-piece design
The vacancies, or holes, in the strip left by those electrons create positive electric charges that cause the strip to enlarge.
Pumping alloy: a new way to power artificial muscles may lead to lifelike machines
The rubber strips may be folded and stacked onto pallets for semiautomatic machines, but the resulting stack can cause the strip to overlap on itself, creating feed problems at the next processing step.
Automated accurate rubber strip stacking
Malarkey, prompting papers to move the strip to the opinion page, to threaten to drop it entirely, and, in one case, to alter Malarkey's face to tone down the senatorial resemblance.
Doonesburied: the decline of Garry Trudeau--and of baby boom liberalism. (Culture and Reviews)
Cooperation in the field of transport and communications, including a program, which will define guidelines for the establishment of a Gaza Sea Port Area, and will provide for the establishing of transport and communications to and from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israel and to other countries.
Between the lines: a textual analysis of the Gaza-Jericho agreement
4 Referring to Diagram V, stitch gray 70 1/2" strips to sides of narrow pieced strip to make vertical pieced strip.
Pretty in pink: quick & scrappy: stitch a strip-pieced sensation!
Her comic strip, "Jane's World," broke new ground in May when it became the first gay-themed strip to receive national media syndication through United Media's Comics.
Paige Braddock
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