Strips, retiring and closing eyes, drops off (6)
I believe the answer is:
sleeps
'drops off' is the definition.
(as in dropping off to sleep)
'strips retiring and closing eyes' is the wordplay.
'strips' becomes 'peels' (peeling is a kind of stripping).
'retiring' is a reversal indicator.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'closing eyes' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'peels' written backwards gives 'sleep'.
'sleep'+'s'='SLEEPS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sleeps that I've seen before include "Takes a siesta" , "Slumbers" , "Dozes" , "Rests in the arms of Morpheus" , "Catches some Z's" .)