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estray

American  
[ih-stray] / ɪˈstreɪ /

noun

  1. a person or animal that has strayed.

  2. Law. a domestic animal, as a horse or a sheep, found wandering or without an owner.


verb (used without object)

  1. Archaic. to stray.

estray British  
/ ɪˈstreɪ /

noun

  1. law a stray domestic animal of unknown ownership

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of estray

1250–1300; Middle English astrai < Anglo-French estray, derivative of Old French estraier to stray


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“Throughout the past year, we offered real solutions to the Forest Service for the Gila estray problem. Those solutions would address the immediate issue, provide long-term resolution and would be humane.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2023

His love incomprehensible    Did never turn away From penitent whom harm befell; But springeth like a desert well    For thirsting poor estray.

From My Beautiful Lady. Nelly Dale by Henry Morley

Assuring himself that she was the estray, Fred looked at her bag to see the condition of that.

From The Hunters of the Ozark by Edward Sylvester Ellis

Is she not an estray upon the world?

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866 by Various

Many respectable men have suggested that our estray laws—the law respecting the issuing of executions, the road law, and some others, are deficient in their present form, and require alterations.

From Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters (Selections) by Abraham Lincoln

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