stray

[ strey ]

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:

   to stray from the main road.

   Synonyms: range, rove

2. to wander; roam:

   I strayed through the maze of the forest.

   Synonyms: meander, drift

3. to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course:

   to stray from the teachings of the church.

   Synonyms: err

4. to digress or become distracted:

   to stray from the main topic.

noun

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

   The humane society traps strays, spays or neuters them, and returns them to the feral colony in which they were found.

2. any person or animal who is homeless or friendless:

   For a popular girl, she has the oddest misfit friends—her mom says she just can’t help but collect strays.

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.

stray

/ streɪ /

verb

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. 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 child

   waifs 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 haphazard

   a stray bullet grazed his thigh

Derived Forms

• ˈstrayer, noun

Other Words From

• stray·er noun
• un·stray·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stray¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb straien, strayen, from Old French estraier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin extrāvagāre “to wander out of bounds”; extravagant

Word History and Origins

Origin of stray¹

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

Example Sentences

Elle Edwards was sitting on a raised flower bed outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, on 24 December 2022, when she was struck by two stray sub-machine gun bullets.

From BBC

While some of President-elect Trump’s most vocal supporters both inside and outside the Senate had pushed Scott’s candidacy hard in the past week, the Senate stayed its course, selecting as McConnell’s successor the one who would stray the least from McConnell’s old-guard GOP.

From Slate

There’s so much character in the stray paint strokes, the blackened thighs.

From Los Angeles Times

The noises were no stray opossum or raccoon but a man — reportedly naked and, authorities said, living in the crawl space underneath the woman’s home.

From Los Angeles Times

A stray Matt Fagerson arm at the resulting line-out then led to another penalty, and Pollard made sure it was a seven-point game again.

From BBC