stray

Definition

  • noun: a domestic animal that is wandering at large or is lost
  • verb: to go in a direction that is away from a group or from the place where you should be
  • verb: as
  • verb: to wander from company, restraint, or proper limits
  • often + 'from'
  • synonyms: wander, roam, deviate

Examples

  • Her eyes 'strayed from' her computer to the window. [=she stopped looking at her computer and began looking at/out the window]

  • a 'straying' husband [=a husband who has sexual relations with a woman who is not his wife]

  • I matched up the socks in the laundry but I was left with one 'stray'. [=one extra sock]

Movie clips

Movie quotes

  • (..) I gotta remember, it's gonna kill me. Hold on. No, I don't know. I, I, I thought I know. Hey, you ever hang out down on th Street with a stray named Kelvin? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kelvin, the Labrador. - What? You gotta gimme something here, cause this is redonkulous. Absolutely redonkulous! (..)
    2008 Bolt
  • (..) We've got a transponder fixed on their position... about here. This cabinet minister, does he always travel on the wrong side of the border? Apparently, they strayed off course. We're fairly certain they're in guerrilla hands. So why don't you use the regular army? What do you need us for? (..)
    1987 Predator
  • (..) Well... almost nothing. - So, do you like your new house? - I like it. The people who used to live there fed these stray cats, so they were always around, and it drove my mother nuts. And then she cut down their tree. Is that a funeral? (..)
    1999 American Beauty