[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stray \stray\, v. t.
   to cause to stray. obs. --shak.
   1913 webster

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stray \stray\, a. cf. of. estrai'e, p. p. of estraier. see
   stray, v. i., and cf. astray, estray.
   having gone astray; strayed; wandering; as, a strayhorse or
   sheep.
   1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
stray astray estray stray line stray mark 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stray \stray\, v. i. imp.  p. p. strayed; p. pr.  vb. n.
   straying. of. estraier, estraer, to stray, or as adj.,
   stray, fr. assumed l. stratarius roving the streets, fr. l.
   strata sc. via a paved road. see street, and stray, a.
   1. to wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out
      of the way.
      1913 webster

            thames among the wanton valleys strays. --denham.
      1913 webster

   2. to wander from company, or from the proper limits; to rove
      at large; to roam; to go astray.
      1913 webster

            now, until the break of day,
            through this house each fairy stray.  --shak.
      1913 webster

            a sheep doth very often stray.        --shak.
      1913 webster

   3. figuratively, to wander from the path of duty or
      rectitude; to err.
      1913 webster

            we have erred and strayed from thy ways. --??? of
                                                  com. prayer.
      1913 webster

            while meaner things, whom instinct leads,
            are rarely known to stray.            --cowper.
      1913 webster

   syn: to deviate; err; swerve; rove; roam; wander.
        1913 webster
see also:
strayed straying street stray 

[4] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stray \stray\, n.
   1. 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.
      1913 webster

            seeing him wander about, i took him up for a stray.
                                                  --dryden.
      1913 webster

   2. the act of wandering or going astray. r. --shak.
      1913 webster

[5] : WordNet (r) 2.0

stray
     adj : not close together in time; "isolated instances of
           rebellion"; "scattered fire"; "a stray bullet grazed
           his thigh" syn: isolated, scattered
     n : homeless cat syn: alley cat
     v 1: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in
          search of food or employment; "the gypsies roamed the
          woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering jew"; "the
          cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift
          from one town to the next"; "they rolled from town to
          town" syn: roll, wander, swan, tramp, roam, cast,
           ramble, rove, range, drift, vagabond
     2: wander from a direct course or at random; "the child strayed
        from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't
        drift from the set course" syn: err, drift
     3: lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject
        of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking,
        or speaking; "she always digresses when telling a story";
        "her mind wanders"; "don't digress when you give a
        lecture" syn: digress, divagate, wander
see also:
isolated scattered alley cat roll wander swan 
tramp roam cast ramble rove 
range drift vagabond err digress 
divagate 

[6] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

208 moby thesaurus words for "stray":
   arab, abandoned, aberrant, aberrative, abnormal, accidental,
   aimless, amorphous, anomalistic, anomalous, bat around, be absent,
   be in error, be mistaken, be wrong, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar,
   bo, bum, bummer, casual, causeless, chance, circuitous, count ties,
   daydream, depart, departing, derelict, designless, desultory,
   deviant, deviate, deviating, deviative, deviatory, devious,
   different, digress, digressive, discursive, divagate, diverge,
   divergent, dogie, dream, drift, driftless, dysteleological,
   eccentric, err, errant, erratic, excurse, excursive,
   fall into error, fantasy, flit, formless, freak, gad, gad about,
   gallivant, gamin, gamine, get sidetracked, go about, go adrift,
   go amiss, go astray, go awry, go the rounds, go woolgathering,
   go wrong, guttersnipe, haphazard, heteroclite, heteromorphic,
   hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, homeless, homeless waif, idler,
   indirect, indiscriminate, inexplicable, intimation, irregular,
   isolated, jaunt, knock about, knock around, labyrinthine,
   landloper, lapse, lazzarone, loafer, lone, losel, lost, maunder,
   mazy, meander, meandering, mindless, misbelieve, miscalculate,
   mooch, moon, mudlark, muse, nomadize, odd, out-of-the-way,
   peregrinate, pererrate, piker, pipe-dream, planetary, promiscuous,
   prowl, purposeless, ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, ramble,
   rambling, random, range, roam, roaming, rounder, rove, roving,
   run about, saunter, separated, serpentine, serve mammon, shade,
   shapeless, shifting, single, singular, ski bum, slip, slip up,
   snake, snaky, sporadic, stargaze, stiff, stochastic, straggle,
   straggler, strain, straying, streak, street arab, street urchin,
   stroll, stumble, subnormal, suggestion, sundowner, surf bum,
   suspicion, swagman, swagsman, swerving, tatterdemalion, tennis bum,
   tincture, tinge, touch, trace, traipse, tramp, trip, turn aside,
   turning, turnpiker, twist, twist and turn, twisting, unaccountable,
   undirected, unexpected, unmotivated, unnatural, urchin, vag,
   vagabond, vagabondize, vagrant, veering, waif, waifs and strays,
   walk the tracks, wander, wandering, wastrel, wayfare, wind,
   winding, zigzag

Stray >> S Words
Stray, definition of term: Stray
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