stray

[ strey ]

/ streɪ /

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.

Nearby words

strawhat, strawson, strawweight, strawworm, strawy, stray, strayhorn, strayhorn, billy, strays, strayve, streak

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

SYNONYMS FOR stray

1 rove, range.

2 meander.

3 err.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stray ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

stray·er, nounun·stray·ing, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for straying

Dr. Kent Sepkowitz applauds the CDC investigators for straying off-message.
CDC Researchers Find Lower Mortality Rates Among Overweight People|Kent Sepkowitz|January 3, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Gingrich is a smart fellow steeped in the issues, but also has a knack for straying off message.
The Right Turns on Newt|Howard Kurtz|April 8, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Signs around the country suggest that any Republican straying too far to the center is courting trouble.
Who's Gunning for Lindsey Graham?|Samuel P. Jacobs|July 21, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Marriage empowers a straying adult to behave like a randy teenager and a petulant toddler at the same time.
Hands Off My Call Girl!|Tracy Quan|February 25, 2010|DAILY BEAST

What keeps most people from cheating, from straying, is a strong conscience—a sense of right and wrong.
Why Obama Should Hire Eliot Spitzer|Justin Frank|April 6, 2009|DAILY BEAST
We may now attach other straying symbols as holding them in mind.
Cupology|Clara
In fact, we have sometimes taken dinner at home after straying as far as Megara and Thebes.
Vacation days in Greece|Rufus B. Richardson
All who have come after Jannet have followed in his path, and there is no reason for straying from it.
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete.|Francois Rabelais
Caper, learning that she was a widow, did not know but what her affections were straying his way.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862|Various
He could not think of anything but them, and he let her lie while he gathered his straying thoughts.
Kophetua the Thirteenth|Julian Corbett

British Dictionary definitions for straying

stray

/ (streɪ) /

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 Forms

strayer, 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