# stray

Pronunciation: say "STRAY" /stɹeɪ/

## Verb

1. To drift away from a direct route or an intended course; to wander off.
   - Simple: To move away from the path or direction you were meant to follow.
   - _Hikers who stray from the marked path risk getting lost in the fog._
   - _The speaker kept straying from his topic to tell stories about his dog._
4. To wander away from one's company or beyond proper limits; to roam at large or go astray.
   - Simple: To wander away from your group or from where you should be.
   - _Cattle often stray onto the road when the fence is down._
   - _The toddler had strayed beyond the playground gate while his father was on the phone._
6. To turn away from duty or from what is morally right; to do wrong.
   - Simple: To stop doing what is right or what you should do.
   - _Even devoted public servants can stray when the temptation is large enough._
   - _After twenty years of marriage he strayed, and the affair ended everything._
11. To cause someone or something to stray; to lead astray.
   - Simple: To make someone go the wrong way or do wrong.

## Noun

2. A domestic animal that lacks a pen, a home or companions and instead wanders at large or is lost.
   - Simple: A pet or farm animal that has no home or is lost and wanders around.
   - _A thin stray had been sleeping under the porch for a week._
   - _The shelter takes in hundreds of strays every winter._
7. Someone who has gone astray, either by getting physically lost or by drifting through life without a settled place or purpose.
   - Simple: A person who is lost, either in a place or in life.
   - _The teacher found the last stray from the field trip asleep on a bench in the museum._
   - _Their apartment became a refuge for strays, from homesick students to friends between jobs._
8. Ellipsis of stray bullet. — Ellipsis of stray bullet.
   - Simple: Short for stray bullet, a bullet that hits something it was not aimed at.
   - _Police said the woman on the porch was struck by a stray from the gunfight down the block._
   - _Parents on the street keep their children indoors at night for fear of a stray._
9. A casual or offhand insult. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A quick, careless insult.
   - _Midway through roasting his roommate, the comedian threw a stray at the whole city of Cleveland._
   - _Fans were trading strays in the comments all night after the game._
10. An instance of wandering away or going astray.
   - Simple: A time when someone or something wanders off or gets lost.
   - _The dog's latest stray took him three miles from home._
   - _A short stray from the main road led the cyclists to a hidden lake._
12. A single burst of atmospheric interference in radio reception.
   - Simple: A crackle on the radio that comes from the air and weather, not from a station.
   - _The operator learned to tell a stray from a real signal by its short, sharp crackle._
   - _Summer thunderstorms filled the receiver with strays._
13. In BDSM, a submissive who has not committed to submitting to any particular dominant.
   - Simple: In BDSM, a person in the submissive role who has not agreed to belong to any one dominant partner.
14. An area of common land set aside for the use of domestic animals.
   - Simple: A piece of land shared by a village, where farm animals could be kept.
   - _The village geese were turned out on the stray beside the church._
   - _Quarrels over who could pasture animals on the stray were settled at the manor court._

## Adjective

3. Having wandered off or gone astray; roaming loose.
   - Simple: Lost, or wandering away from where it belongs.
   - _Volunteers feed the stray dogs that gather behind the market._
   - _A stray sheep had wandered onto the highway and stopped traffic._
5. Out of its proper place; misplaced.
   - Simple: In the wrong place, or where it does not belong.
   - _The editor caught a stray apostrophe in the headline just before it went to print._
   - _A stray spark from the fireplace left a scorch mark on the rug._

## Noun

15. An item of movable property whose owner is unknown. *(archaic, British)*
   - Simple: A thing that can be moved or carried, when nobody knows who owns it.
   - _By ancient custom, waifs and strays found within the manor fell to the lord if no owner came forward._
   - _The court ordered the stray to be held until its rightful owner could be traced._

## Origin

**Meanings 2, 7–10, 12–15** — From Middle English stray, from Anglo-Norman estray and Old French estrai, from the verb stray.
**Meanings 1, 4, 6, 11** — From Middle English strayen, partly from Old French estraier, from Vulgar Latin via strata, and partly from Middle English strien ("to spread, scatter"), from Old English strēġan ("to strew").
**Meanings 3, 5** — From Middle English stray, from the noun stray.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stray (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).