Stray

v. i.

To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.

[imp. & p. p. Strayed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Straying.]

Thames among the wanton valleys strays.

- Denham.

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

Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.

- Shak.

A sheep doth very often stray.

- Shak.

Figuratively, to wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err.

We have erred and strayed from thy ways.

- of Com. Prayer.

While meaner things, whom instinct leads,
Are rarely known to stray.

- Cowper.

v. t.

To cause to stray.

Having gone astray; strayed; wandering; as, a strayhorse or sheep.

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.

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.

Seeing him wander about, I took him up for a stray.

- Dryden.

The act of wandering or going astray.

Noun	1.	stray - homeless cat Synonyms: alley cat
Verb	1.	stray - 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" Synonyms: roam, rove, vagabond, wander, swan, ramble, range, drift, tramp, cast, roll
	2.	stray - 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" Synonyms: drift, err
	3.	stray - 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" Synonyms: digress, divagate, wander
Adj.	1.	stray - not close together in time; "isolated instances of rebellion"; "scattered fire"; "a stray bullet grazed his thigh" Synonyms: isolated, scattered

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, deviating, deviative, deviatory, devious, different, 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, 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, rambling, random, range, roaming, rounder, 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, wandering, wastrel, wayfare, wind, winding, zigzag

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