STRAY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Stray

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adjective

Stray adj. 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.

verb

Stray v. t. To cause to stray. (Obs.)

Stray v. i. (past & past part. strayed; pres. part. straying)

To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way. "Thames among the wanton valleys strays."

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." "A sheep doth very often stray."

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."

Synonyms: To deviate; err; swerve; rove; roam; wander.

noun

Stray n.

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."

The act of wandering or going astray. (R.)

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Etymology of 'Stray'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Stray" Quotes from Famous Books

... and surprised: Gringo never prowled anywhere. Like most rather meaty individuals, he was a very sound sleeper; and in the morning he often felt a little uneasy in his conscience as to the matter of stray trespassing cats or such small fry. He had every confidence that his instincts would warn him of really important things, like burglars. Still, the important things are not all of life, nor burglars all the duty of ...

— The Gray Dawn • Stewart Edward White

... athwart the glooming flats Thy hoarse, nocturnal whispers stray— Much to the horror of the bats— We're one day nearer home, and that's A ...

— Rhymes of the East and Re-collected Verses • John Kendall (AKA Dum-Dum)

... sensation in the soles of his feet, and, startled, looked down to find that he was standing in a tiny pool of water. With a cry of alarm he sprang to where the big copper sat. A glance confirmed his worst fears; a stray bullet had torn a great hole in the vessel near the bottom, and of their precious store of ...

— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely

... spring-time's lyric words, Drowsed round us while we tried to find the lane That to our coming feet had been so plain, And lost ourselves among the sweetfern's growth, And thickets of young pine-trees, nothing loath, Amidst the wilding loveliness to stray, And spend, if need were, looking for the way, Whole hours; but blundered into the right course Suddenly, and came out upon our horse, Where we had left him—to our great surprise, Stamping and switching at the pestering flies, But not apparently anxious to depart, When nearly overturning at the ...

— The Daughter of the Storage - And Other Things in Prose and Verse • William Dean Howells

... missionaries, as lay teacher he had served their cause well over in the cannibal atolls to the westward. As a reward, he had been sent to the paradise of Fitu-Iva, where all were or had been good converts, to gather in the backsliders. Unfortunately, Ieremia had become too well educated. A stray volume of Darwin, a nagging wife, and a pretty Fitu-Ivan widow had driven him into the ranks of the backsliders. It was not a case of apostasy. The effect of Darwin had been one of intellectual fatigue. What was the use of trying to understand this ...

— A Son Of The Sun • Jack London

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