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definitions

stray

[strey]
See more synonyms for stray on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object)
  1. 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.
  2. to wander; roam: The new puppy strayed from room to room.
  3. to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course: to stray from the teachings of the church.
  4. to digress or become distracted.
noun
  1. a domestic animal found wandering at large or without an owner.
  2. any homeless or friendless person or animal.
  3. a person or animal that strays: the strays of a flock.
  4. strays, Radio. static.
adjective
  1. straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.
  2. found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.
  3. 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

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1. rove, range. 2. meander. 3. err.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for straying

aberrant, errant, aberrational, aberration, divergence, maverick, waif, aberrance, aberrancy, divagation, straggler

Examples from the Web for straying

Contemporary Examples of straying

Historical Examples of straying

  • There must be no chance of straying, since they were sold, and liable for transport at any moment.

    The Night Riders

    Ridgwell Cullum

  • But where are we straying to,—what part of the town have we got into?

    Roland Cashel

    Charles James Lever

  • People were straying by, seeming to drift under the dark trees.

    Erik Dorn

    Ben Hecht

  • Its straying about and cant find its way back to its place in the sky.

  • He detected the first signs of straying, and beckoned us back to the flock.

    Appearances

    Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson

British Dictionary definitions for straying

stray

verb (intr)
  1. to wander away, as from the correct path or from a given area
  2. to wander haphazardly
  3. to digress from the point, lose concentration, etc
  4. to deviate from certain moral standards
noun
    1. a domestic animal, fowl, etc, that has wandered away from its place of keeping and is lost
    2. (as modifier)stray dogs
  2. a lost or homeless person, esp a childwaifs and strays
  3. an isolated or random occurrence, specimen, etc, that is out of place or outside the usual pattern
adjective
  1. 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 straying

stray

v.

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.

stray

n.

"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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper