estray

[ ih-strey ]

/ ɪˈstreɪ /

noun

a person or animal that has strayed.

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

verb (used without object)

Archaic. to stray.

Nearby words

Origin of estray

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for estray

Had it not been taken in tow by the runabout, it could not have remained an estray much longer.
The Launch Boys' Cruise in the Deerfoot|Edward S. Ellis
Assuring himself that she was the estray, Fred looked at her bag to see the condition of that.
The Hunters of the Ozark|Edward S. Ellis
Supposing him to have belonged to the old Count's stud of foreign horses, we led him back as an estray.
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe|Edgar Allan Poe
But such an estray, such a piece of flotsam, was Audrey, that she could not help him out.
Audrey|Mary Johnston

And a health to the one away, Who drifts down careless Italy, God's wanderer and estray!
Songs from Vagabondia|Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey

British Dictionary definitions for estray

estray

/ (ɪˈstreɪ) /

noun

law a stray domestic animal of unknown ownership

Word Origin for estray

C16: from Anglo-French, from Old French estraier to stray

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