STRAY

isolated, stray

(adjective) not close together in time; “isolated instances of rebellion”; “a few stray crumbs”

stray

(adjective) (of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from home; “a stray calf”; “a stray dog”

stray

(noun) an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)

digress, stray, divagate, wander

(verb) 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”

roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, drift, vagabond

(verb) 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”

stray, err, drift

(verb) 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”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Noun

stray (plural strays)

Any domestic animal that has no enclosure, or its proper place and company, and wanders at large, or is lost; an estray.

(figuratively) One who is lost, either literally or metaphorically.

The act of wandering or going astray.

(historical) An area of common land or place administered for the use of general domestic animals, i.e. "the stray"

Hyponyms

• (stray cats) See feral cat

Etymology 2

Verb

stray (third-person singular simple present strays, present participle straying, simple past and past participle strayed)

(intransitive) To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.

(intransitive) To wander from one's limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray.

(intransitive, figurative) To wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err.

(transitive) To cause to stray.

Synonyms

• deviate

• err

Etymology 3

Adjective

stray (not comparable)

Having gone astray; strayed; wandering

In the wrong place; misplaced.

Anagrams

• T-rays, artsy, satyr, stary, trays, yrast

Source: Wiktionary

Stray, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Strayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Straying.] Etym: [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. While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray. Cowper.

Syn.

– To deviate; err; swerve; rove; roam; wander.

Stray, v. t.

Definition: To cause to stray. [Obs.] Shak.

Stray, a. Etym: [Cf. OF. estraié, p.p. of estraier. See Stray, v. i., and cf. Astray, Estray.]

Definition: 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.

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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition