Adjacent Words

Stray definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STRAY, v.i. [The elements of this word are not certainly known. L., G., to wander, to strike; both probably from the root of reach, stretch. See Straggle.]
1. To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate or go out of the way. We say, to stray from the path or road into the forest or wood.
2. To wander from company, or from the proper limits; as, a sheep strays from the flock; a horse strays from an inclosure.
3. To rove; to wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err; to deviate.
We have erred and strayed--
4. To wander; to rove at large; to play free and unconfined.
Lo, the glad gales oer all her beauties stray, breathe on her lips and in her bosom play.
5. To wander; to run a serpentine course.
Where Thames among the wanton valley strays.
STRAY, v.t. To mislead. [Not in use.]
STRAY, n.
1. Any domestic animal that has left an inclosure or its proper place and company, and wanders at large or is lost. The laws provide that strays shall be taken up, impounded and advertised.
Seeing him wander about, I took him up for a stray.
2. The act of wandering. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not close together in time; "isolated instances of rebellion"; "a few stray crumbs" [syn: isolated, stray]
2: (of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from home; "a stray calf"; "a stray dog" n
1: an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal) v
1: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town" [syn: roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, drift, vagabond]
2: wander from a direct course or at random; "The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't drift from the set course" [syn: stray, err, drift]
3: lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking; "She always digresses when telling a story"; "her mind wanders"; "Don't digress when you give a lecture" [syn: digress, stray, divagate, wander]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French estraié, past participle of estraier Date: 13th century 1. a. a domestic animal that is wandering at large or is lost b. a person or thing that strays 2. [Middle English, from straien to stray] archaic the act of going astray II. intransitive verb Etymology: Middle English straien, from Anglo-French estraier, from Vulgar Latin *extravagare, from Latin extra- outside + vagari to wander — more at extra- Date: 14th century wander: as a. to wander from company, restraint, or proper limits b. to roam about without fixed direction or purpose c. to move in a winding course ; meander d. to move without conscious or intentional effort <eyes straying absently around the room> e. to become distracted from an argument or chain of thought <strayed from the point> f. to wander accidentally from a fixed or chosen route g. err, sin • strayer noun III. adjective Date: 1589 1. having strayed or escaped from a proper or intended place <a stray dog> <hit by a stray bullet> <fixed a few stray hairs> 2. occurring at random or sporadically <a few stray thoughts> 3. not serving any useful purpose ; unwanted <stray light>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v., n., & adj. --v.intr. 1 wander from the right place; become separated from one's companions etc.; go astray. 2 deviate morally. 3 (as strayed adj.) that has gone astray. --n. 1 a person or thing that has strayed, esp. a domestic animal. 2 (esp. in pl.) electrical phenomena interfering with radio reception. --adj. 1 strayed or lost. 2 isolated; found or occurring occasionally (a stray customer or two; hit by a stray bullet). 3 Physics wasted or unwanted (eliminate stray magnetic fields). Derivatives: strayer n. Etymology: ME f. AF & OF estrayer (v.), AF strey (n. & adj.) f. OF estraié (as ASTRAY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stray Stray, v. t. To cause to stray. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stray Stray, a. [Cf. OF. estrai['e], p. p. of estraier. See Stray, v. i., and cf. Astray, Estray.] Having gone astray; strayed; wandering; as, a strayhorse or sheep. Stray line (Naut.), that portion of the log line which is veered from the reel to allow the chip to get clear of the stern eddies before the glass is turned. Stray mark (Naut.), the mark indicating the end of the stray line.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stray Stray, n. 1. Any domestic animal that has an inclosure, or its proper place and company, and wanders at large, or is lost; an estray. Used also figuratively. Seeing him wander about, I took him up for a stray. --Dryden. 2. The act of wandering or going astray. [R.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stray Stray, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Strayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Straying.] [OF. estraier, estraer, to stray, or as adj., stray, fr. (assumed) L. stratarius roving the streets, fr. L. strata (sc. via) a paved road. See Street, and Stray, a.] 1. To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way. Thames among the wanton valleys strays. --Denham. 2. To wander from company, or from the proper limits; to rove at large; to roam; to go astray. Now, until the break of day, Through this house each fairy stray. --Shak. A sheep doth very often stray. --Shak. 3. Figuratively, to wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err. We have erred and strayed from thy ways. --??? of Com. Prayer. While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray. --Cowper. Syn: To deviate; err; swerve; rove; roam; wander.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(strays, straying, strayed) 1. If someone strays somewhere, they wander away from where they are supposed to be. Tourists often get lost and stray into dangerous areas... A railway line crosses the park so children must not be allowed to stray. VERB: V prep/adv, V 2. A stray dog or cat has wandered away from its owner's home. ...a refuge for stray cats. ADJ: ADJ n • Stray is also a noun. The dog was a stray which had been adopted. N-COUNT 3. If your mind or your eyes stray, you do not concentrate on or look at one particular subject, but start thinking about or looking at other things. Even with the simplest cases I find my mind straying... = wander VERB: V 4. You use stray to describe something that exists separated from other similar things. An 8-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet... She shrugged a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Wander, rove, ramble, range, roam, straggle, stroll, deviate, digress, go out of the way, go astray. 2. Swerve (from rectitude), err. II. n. Estray. III. a. (Colloq.) Strayed, wandering, gone astray.

Moby Thesaurus

Arab, abandoned, aberrant, aberrative, abnormal, accidental, aimless, amorphous, anomalistic, anomalous, bat around, be absent, be in error, be mistaken, be wrong, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar, bo, bum, bummer, casual, causeless, chance, circuitous, count ties, daydream, depart, departing, derelict, designless, desultory, deviant, deviate, deviating, deviative, deviatory, devious, different, digress, digressive, discursive, divagate, diverge, divergent, dogie, dream, drift, driftless, dysteleological, eccentric, err, errant, erratic, excurse, excursive, fall into error, fantasy, flit, formless, freak, gad, gad about, gallivant, gamin, gamine, get sidetracked, go about, go adrift, go amiss, go astray, go awry, go the rounds, go woolgathering, go wrong, guttersnipe, haphazard, heteroclite, heteromorphic, hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, homeless, homeless waif, idler, indirect, indiscriminate, inexplicable, intimation, irregular, isolated, jaunt, knock about, knock around, labyrinthine, landloper, lapse, lazzarone, loafer, lone, losel, lost, maunder, mazy, meander, meandering, mindless, misbelieve, miscalculate, mooch, moon, mudlark, muse, nomadize, odd, out-of-the-way, peregrinate, pererrate, piker, pipe-dream, planetary, promiscuous, prowl, purposeless, ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, ramble, rambling, random, range, roam, roaming, rounder, rove, roving, run about, saunter, separated, serpentine, serve Mammon, shade, shapeless, shifting, single, singular, ski bum, slip, slip up, snake, snaky, sporadic, stargaze, stiff, stochastic, straggle, straggler, strain, straying, streak, street Arab, street urchin, stroll, stumble, subnormal, suggestion, sundowner, surf bum, suspicion, swagman, swagsman, swerving, tatterdemalion, tennis bum, tincture, tinge, touch, trace, traipse, tramp, trip, turn aside, turning, turnpiker, twist, twist and turn, twisting, unaccountable, undirected, unexpected, unmotivated, unnatural, urchin, vag, vagabond, vagabondize, vagrant, veering, waif, waifs and strays, walk the tracks, wander, wandering, wastrel, wayfare, wind, winding, zigzag