stray
pronunciation
How to pronounce stray in British English:
UK [streɪ]
How to pronounce stray in American English:
US [streɪ]
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- Noun:
- homeless cat
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- Verb:
- move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- wander from a direct course or at random
- lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
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- Adjective:
- not close together in time
Word Origin
- stray (v.)
- c. 1300, a shortening of Old French estraier "wander about, roam, drift, run loose," said of animals, especially a horse without a master, also of persons, perhaps literally "go about the streets," from estree "route, highway," from Late Latin via strata "paved road" (see street). On another theory, the Old French word is from Vulgar Latin *estragare, a contraction of *estravagare, representing Latin extra vagari "to wander outside" (see extravagant). Figurative sense of "to wander from the path of rectitude" is attested from early 14c. Related: Strayed; straying.
- stray (n.)
- "domestic animal found wandering," early 13c., from Anglo-French noun use of Old French estraié "strayed, riderless," past participle adjective from estraier "to roam, drift, run loose" (see stray (v.)).
- stray (adj.)
- c. 1600, of animals; 19c. of persons and things, from stray (n.) and in part a shortening of astray.
Example
- 1. There are deer and squirrels and stray cats .
- 2. You 're not scared of the stray dogs .
- 3. Algorithms automatically refine the components to eliminate stray marks and enhance intentional ones .
- 4. One moral , tierney says : you stray , you pay .
- 5. 2a Stray dog looks back at the ruins of a tsunami-destroyed neighborhood .