'Stray' definitions:
Definition of 'stray'
From: WordNet
adjective
Not close together in time; "isolated instances of rebellion"; "a few stray crumbs" [syn: isolated, stray]
adjective
(of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from home; "a stray calf"; "a stray dog"
noun
An animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)
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" [syn: roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, drift, vagabond]
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" [syn: stray, err, drift]
verb
Definition of 'Stray'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Seeing him wander about, I took him up for a stray. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 2. The act of wandering or going astray. [R.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Stray'
From: GCIDE
- Stray \Stray\, v. t. To cause to stray. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Stray'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Stray'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Thames among the wanton valleys strays. --Denham. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To wander from company, or from the proper limits; to rove at large; to roam; to go astray. [1913 Webster]
- Now, until the break of day, Through this house each fairy stray. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- A sheep doth very often stray. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Figuratively, to wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err. [1913 Webster]
- We have erred and strayed from thy ways. --??? of Com. Prayer. [1913 Webster]
- While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: To deviate; err; swerve; rove; roam; wander. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'stray'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abandoned,
- aberrant,
- aberrative,
- abnormal,
- accidental,
- aimless,
- amorphous,
- anomalistic,
- anomalous,
- Arab,
- 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