estray
Americannoun
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a person or animal that has strayed.
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Law. a domestic animal, as a horse or a sheep, found wandering or without an owner.
verb (used without object)
noun
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.
“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
The canoe was soon made fast, and then they18 resumed their hunt for the estray.
From The Hunters of the Ozark by Edward Sylvester Ellis
A rescue party had come in search of the estray, and they were soon brought with rejoicing home.
From French Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson
A meeting was called and it was agreed that each man should build fence in proportion to the amount of stock he owned, and that the public corral should be used for the estray pound.
From The Mormon Menace The Confessions of John Doyle Lee, Danite by Alfred Henry Lewis
In case he had been called in his professional capacity–for people were being born in Comanche, as elsewhere–it would be exceedingly embarrassing to him to have the authorities lay hands on him as an estray.
From Claim Number One by George W. (George Washington) Ogden
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
