ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Stray

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /stɹeɪ/ · Part of speech noun

Quick meaning: Stray is a noun meaning Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray.

Meaning

Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray.

More Meanings

  1. (literally or figuratively) A person who is lost.
  2. An act of wandering off or going astray.
  3. (British, law, archaic) An article of movable property, of which the owner is not known (see waif).
  4. (radio) An instance of atmospheric interference.
  5. (BDSM) A submissive that has not committed to submit to any particular dominant, particulary in petplay.
  6. (historical) An area of common land for use by domestic animals.
  7. (slang) A casual or offhand insult.

Example Sentences

catch a stray
waifs and strays
Thames among the wanton valleys strays.
Hit by a stray, but I pray that there's a hood in heaven

Word Forms

Synonyms for stray

Depending on context, synonyms include sporadic, cast, drift, ramble, vagabond, range.

Antonyms for stray

Common opposites include collared.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include straggle, vagabond, wander, roam, divagate, ramble.

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Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.