Afra stripped methodically, completely, and without affectation.

Then there is the toy bird that terrorizes Ellis's stepdaughter and appears to be methodically stripping the paint from his house, and the mysterious e-mail messages that arrive every night from Sherman Oaks, Calif.

He'd left his arbalest and scale mail with Brandark, for he'd known this moment was coming, but he felt exposed and vulnerable as he methodically stripped to the skin.

Henry Pleasants methodically stripped his AK-47, reassembled it, then stripped it again.

While the red dust of the Korrush skittered through the campsite, they squatted over the corpse, slowly and methodically stripping the skull of skin and flesh.

He methodically strips his captive naked, presumably rapes her, then proceeds to subject her to an ongoing series of rants, ruminations and reflections on life and love as he seeks to force the woman to understand him - and, ultimately, to submit to him.

Driven by desperation, greed or simply a sense that the end is nearing, its rulers and citizens are methodically stripping the country of its assets.

By the time they had lifted the four doors off their hinges, removed the bonnet cover from the engine and had set about the rivets on one of the mudguards, it was clear that they were methodically stripping the car of its armour plating.

They had squandered all their riches, uncaring for centuries, while the Council methodically stripped them of their powers.

Then she and Jerry methodically stripped Cadmann, sprayed his burns and minor wounds and covered them with gel.