estray

American  

[ih-strey] / 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.

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verb (used without object)

1. Archaic. to stray.

estray British  

/ ɪˈstreɪ /

noun

1. law a stray domestic animal of unknown ownership

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Etymology

Origin of estray

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

Example Sentences

“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

Then the sombre village crier, Ringing loud his brazen bell, Wandered down the street proclaiming: There was an estray to sell.

From Voices for the Speechless by Firth, Abraham

That would mean, that a lost horse had been killed or an estray steer.

From The Sleuth of St. James's Square by Post, Melville Davisson

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 Morley, Henry

All the day45 Had been a dreary one at best, and dim Was settling to its close, yet shot one grim Red leer to see the plain catch its estray.

From Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning by Reynolds, Myra