Other forms: strayed, strays, straying
A stray is an animal living without an owner. A stray dog, take in a stray, feed the strays.
As an adjective it means wandering loose or out of place: a stray cat, a stray bullet, a stray hair. As a verb, to stray is to wander away from where you should be, literally and figuratively: stray from the path, stray from the subject, stray into dangerous territory. Note strays as an animal-welfare category, and that a stray dog and a feral dog are different things — a stray was once owned.
1nounstrayAn animal living without an owner.
“The stray had been round the back of the pub for about a month.”
2verbwanderTo wander away from where you should be.
“Keep to the path and don't let the children stray into the woods.”
3adjectivewanderingWandering loose or out of place.
“A stray bullet went through the wall of the next house.”
stray is something wandering loose.
Old French estraier meant to wander the streets, from a Latin phrase about roaming abroad. Astray and stray are the same word, one with the a of Old French and one without.
Old French
estrai
Anglo-Norman
estray
Middle English
stray
English, today
stray
From Middle English stray, strey, from Anglo-Norman estray, stray, Old French estrai, from the verb (see below).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Pets & Pet Care