stray

stray
    adj 1: not close together in time; "isolated instances of
           rebellion"; "a few stray crumbs" [syn: {isolated},
           {stray}]
    2: (of an animal) having no home or having wandered away from
       home; "a stray calf"; "a stray dog"
    n 1: an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)
    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}, {stray}, {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: {stray}, {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}, {stray}, {divagate}, {wander}]
    

Stray \Stray\, v. t.
   To cause to stray. [Obs.] --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]
    

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]
    

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]
    

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]
    

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