STRAY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does stray mean? 

• STRAY (noun)
  The noun STRAY has 1 sense:

1. an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)

  Familiarity information: STRAY used as a noun is very rare.

• STRAY (adjective)
  The adjective STRAY has 2 senses:

1. not close together in time

2. (of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from home

  Familiarity information: STRAY used as an adjective is rare.

• STRAY (verb)
  The verb STRAY has 3 senses:

1. move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

2. wander from a direct course or at random

3. lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking

  Familiarity information: STRAY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STRAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("stray" is a kind of...):

domestic animal; domesticated animal (any of various animals that have been tamed and made fit for a human environment)

Derivation:

stray (move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment)

stray ((of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from home)

• STRAY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not close together in time

Synonyms:

isolated; stray

Context example:

a few stray crumbs

Similar:

sporadic (recurring in scattered and irregular or unpredictable instances)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from home

Context example:

a stray dog

Similar:

lost (no longer in your possession or control; unable to be found or recovered)

Derivation:

stray (an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal))

• STRAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they stray    ... he / she / it strays   
Past simple: strayed   
Past participle: strayed   
-ing form: straying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander

Context example:

They rolled from town to town

Hypernyms (to "stray" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

drift; err; stray (wander from a direct course or at random)

wander (go via an indirect route or at no set pace)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stray"):

maunder (wander aimlessly)

gad; gallivant; jazz around (wander aimlessly in search of pleasure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

stray (an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal))

strayer (someone who strays or falls behind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Wander from a direct course or at random

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

drift; err; stray

Context example:

don't drift from the set course

Hypernyms (to "stray" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander (move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

strayer (someone who strays or falls behind)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

digress; divagate; stray; wander

Context example:

Don't digress when you give a lecture

Hypernyms (to "stray" is one way to...):

tell (let something be known)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My aunt remained quiet; until again some stray tears found their way to her cheeks.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He caught a stray sequence of sentences she was uttering.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Later on that day, Kiche and White Fang strayed into the edge of the woods next to the camp.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I could not lay a finger anywhere but I was pricked; and now I seem to have gathered up a stray lamb in my arms.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She is a stray chicken in a world of foxes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She played till Fanny's eyes, straying to the window on the weather's being evidently fair, spoke what she felt must be done.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

See yonder horses which stray among the rocks beneath us?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His lips trembled a little, so that the rough thatch of brown hair which covered them was visibly agitated. His tongue even strayed out to moisten them.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

For a minute or two we were all on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible places.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)