stray

verb

• move away aimlessly from a group or from the right course or place:I strayed a few blocks in the wrong direction dog owners are urged not to allow their dogs to stray the military arrested anyone who strayed into the exclusion zone
• (of the eyes or a hand) move idly or casually in a specified direction:her eyes strayed to the telephone
• (of a person who is married or in a long-term relationship) be unfaithful:men who stray are seen as more exciting and desirable
• literary wander or roam in a specified direction:over these mounds the Kurdish shepherd strays

adjective

• 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, not by deliberate design, and usually having a detrimental effect on the operation or efficiency of equipment:stray capacitance

noun

• 1a stray person or thing, especially a domestic animal.

• 2 (strays) electrical phenomena interfering with radio reception.