stray

[strey]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stray ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object)

to deviate from the direct course, leave the proper place, or go beyond the proper limits, especially without a fixed course or purpose; ramble: to stray from the main road.

to wander; roam: The new puppy strayed from room to room.

to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course: to stray from the teachings of the church.

to digress or become distracted.

noun

a domestic animal found wandering at large or without an owner.

any homeless or friendless person or animal.

a person or animal that strays: the strays of a flock.

strays, Radio. static.

adjective

straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.

found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.

Radio. undesired: stray capacitance.

Origin of stray

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English strayen, aphetic variant of astraien, estraien < Middle French estraier < Vulgar Latin *extrāvagāre to wander out of bounds (see extravagant); (noun) Middle English, in part derivative of the v., in part < Anglo-French stray, Middle French estrai, derivative of estraier

Related formsstray·er, nounun·stray·ing, adjective

Synonyms for stray

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stray ON THESAURUS.COM

1. rove, range. 2. meander. 3. err.

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

Related Words for stray

depart, wander, diverge, swerve, err, drift, roam, meander, deviate, homeless, roaming, vagrant, roving, lost, digress, divagate, ramble, sin, traipse, turn

Examples from the Web for stray

Contemporary Examples of stray

She narrowed her eyes, bit her lip as if to chew over the question, and whisked some stray blond hairs away from her face.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’
Asawin Suebsaeng
January 7, 2015
While some stray from the fold, most stay with the same pack their entire lives.
Mongooses, Meerkats, and Ants, Oh My! Why Some Animals Keep Mating All in the Family
Helen Thompson
December 29, 2014
On the weekends the birds and stray cats keep the artists company as they set up their displays.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind
Brin-Jonathan Butler
December 19, 2014
The film tells the story of Ron “Stray Dog” Hall, a burly, sixtysomething biker and Vietnam vet.
Life After ‘Winter’s Bone’: Debra Granik on Finding J. Law and the Plight of the Female Director
Marlow Stern
October 24, 2014
Three stray dogs saunter out of our way as we turn into a residential area lined with trailers and graffiti-sprayed stop signs.
A Shooting on a Tribal Land Uncovers Feds Running Wild
Caitlin Dickson
August 26, 2014

Historical Examples of stray

It is present in all his works, in stray letters and detached passages.
De Libris: Prose and Verse
Austin Dobson
Her thoughts could not stray far from the letter and—from other things!
Quaint Courtships
Various
He did not propose to have his plans spoiled by these stray guests.
The Little Colonel
Annie Fellows Johnston
As much to me as if a stray, migratory mule had rambled into the wood and found me, and I him.
Green Mansions
W. H. Hudson
I am such a waif and stray everywhere, that I am liable to be drifted where any current may set.'
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for stray

stray

verb (intr)

to wander away, as from the correct path or from a given area

to wander haphazardly

to digress from the point, lose concentration, etc

to deviate from certain moral standards

noun

a domestic animal, fowl, etc, that has wandered away from its place of keeping and is lost
(as modifier)stray dogs

a lost or homeless person, esp a childwaifs and strays

an isolated or random occurrence, specimen, etc, that is out of place or outside the usual pattern

adjective

scattered, random, or haphazarda stray bullet grazed his thigh

Derived Formsstrayer, noun

Word Origin for stray

C14: from Old French estraier, from Vulgar Latin estragāre (unattested), from Latin extrā- outside + vagāri to roam; see astray, extravagant, stravaig

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

Word Origin and History for stray

c.1300, a shortening of Old French estraier "wander about," literally "go about the streets," from estree "route, highway," from Late Latin via strata "paved road" (see street). On another theory, the Old French word is from Vulgar Latin *estragare, a contraction of *estravagare, representing Latin extra vagari "to wander outside" (see extravagant). Figurative sense of "to wander from the path of rectitude" is attested from early 14c.

"domestic animal found wandering," early 13c., from Old French estraié "strayed," past participle of estraier (see stray (v.)). The adjective is first recorded c.1600.