stray

 
Pronunciation: /streɪ/

verb

[no object]
  • move away aimlessly from a group or from the right course or place: dog owners are urged not to allow their dogs to stray the military arrested anyone who strayed into the exclusion zone
  • [no object, with adverbial of direction] (of the eyes or a hand) move idly or casually: her eyes strayed to the telephone
  • be unfaithful to a spouse or partner: men who stray are seen as more exciting and desirable
  • [no object, with adverbial of direction] literary wander or roam: over these mounds the shepherd strays

adjective

[attributive]
  • 1not in the right place; separated from the group or target: he pushed a few stray hairs from her face she was killed by a stray bullet
  • (of a domestic animal) having no home or having wandered away from home: stray dogs
  • 2 Physics (of a physical quantity) arising as a consequence of the laws of physics, but unwanted and usually having a detrimental effect on the operation of equipment: stray capacitance

noun

  • 1a stray person or thing, especially a domestic animal.
  • 2 (strays) electrical phenomena interfering with radio reception.

Derivatives

strayer

noun

Origin:

Middle English: shortening of Anglo-Norman French and Old French estrayer (verb), Anglo-Norman French strey (noun), partly from astray