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strayer

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stray

  [strey]
Use strayer in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to deviate from the direct course, leave the proper place, or go beyond the proper limits, esp. without a fixed course or purpose; ramble: to stray from the main road.
2. to wander; roam: The new puppy strayed from room to room.
3. to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course: to stray from the teachings of the church.
4. to digress or become distracted.
–noun
5. a domestic animal found wandering at large or without an owner.
6. any homeless or friendless person or animal.
7. a person or animal that strays: the strays of a flock.
8. strays, Radio. static.
–adjective
9. straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.
10. found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.
11. Radio. undesired: stray capacitance.
Origin:
1250–1300; (v.) ME strayen, aph. var. of astraien, estraien < MF estraier < VL *extrāvagāre to wander out of bounds (see extravagant ); (n.) ME, in part deriv. of the v., in part < AF stray, MF estrai, deriv. of estraier

Related forms:
strayer, noun

Synonyms:
1. rove, range. 2. meander. 3. err.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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stray   (strā)   
intr.v.   strayed, stray·ing, strays

    1. To move away from a group, deviate from the correct course, or go beyond established limits.

    2. To become lost.

  2. To wander about without a destination or purpose; roam. See Synonyms at wander.

  3. To follow a winding course; meander.

  4. To deviate from a moral, proper, or right course; err.

  5. To become diverted from a subject or train of thought; digress. See Synonyms at swerve.

n.  One that has strayed, especially a domestic animal wandering about.
adj.  

  1. Straying or having strayed; wandering or lost: stray cats and dogs.

  2. Scattered or separate: a few stray crumbs.


[Middle English straien, from Old French estraier, from estree, highway, from Latin strāta; see street.]
stray'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

stray  (v.)
c.1300, aphetic of O.Fr. estraier "wander about," lit. "go about the streets," from estree "route, highway," from L.L. via strata "paved road" (see street). On another theory, the O.Fr. is from V.L. *estragare, a contraction of *estravagare, representing L. extra vagari "to wander outside" (see extravagant). Fig. sense of "to wander from the path of rectitude" is attested from c.1325. The noun meaning "domestic animal found wandering" is earlier (1228), from O.Fr. estraié "strayed," pp. of estraier. The adj. is first recorded 1607.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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