stray

Etymology

The verb is borrowed from Old French estraier (“to wander, roam; of a horse, to run loose without a rider”), with its first syllable dropped,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the verb also behind astray.^[5][7][8] The noun is stray, estrai (1234), the past participle of the French verb used as a noun,^{[2][3][9][10]} and partly a derivative of the English verb.^[8][6] The adjective is partly a shortening of astray and partly the noun used attributively.^[8][2][5] The origin of the French verb is disputed.^[2][8][11] Etymonline, Barnhart, the AHD and Skeat derive it from estree (“road, highway”), from Late Latin strāta (“paved road”), the source of street, so that it meant "to roam the roads";^{[2][3][4][12][13]} Klein and Weekley's continental authorities set up Vulgar Latin *strātārius (“abandoned on the road”).^[13][11] The OED, which judges the derivation from strāta impossible on phonological grounds, and Merriam-Webster derive it instead from a Romance verb contracted from extrā (“outside”) and vagor (“to wander”), as in extravagant.^[8][9][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a legal term, a domestic animal found wandering away from its owner's keeping: strai, 1228,^[3][11] early 13th century in Etymonline.^[2] Weekley notes that this earliest record already has the sense of property without an owner that is found in waif, with which stray is often paired.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The verb, recorded from about 1300, was used first of animals wandering from an enclosure or herd,^[2][3] and figuratively of people straying from the path of right, by about 1325.^[8][2] It soon also meant to escape from confinement (about 1330), to roam freely (before 1398), and to wander in thought or purpose (1390, in Gower).^[8] Shakespeare used it of a stream that meanders.^[8] The noun moved from the legal stray to any animal that had wandered from its flock or home (about 1440), to a homeless, friendless person (1649), as in waifs and strays,^[8] and to anything separated from the main body (1798).^[8] In the north of England stray named the right to pasture cattle on common land (1736) and then the common pasture itself (1889).^[8] The adjective, used of animals from 1607 according to the OED and about 1600 according to Etymonline, was extended to people and things in the 19th century.^[8][2] In slang, bit of stray was a casual sexual partner from 1884.^[14]

Timeline

• 1228 – strai, a straying animal (law).^[3]
• c. 1300 – the verb, of animals, to wander away.^[2][3]
• c. 1325 – to wander from the path of right.^[8]
• c. 1330 – to escape from confinement or control.^[8]
• c. 1440 – an animal that has strayed.^[8]
• 1607 – the adjective, of an animal.^[8]
• 1649 – a homeless person.^[8]
• 1736 – (northern England) the right of common pasture.^[8]
• 1798 – something separated from its group.^[8]
• 1884 – (slang) a casual sexual partner.^[14]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To wander away from a group, a proper place or a fixed course: The calves strayed onto the road.
2. To move about aimlessly; to roam.
3. To digress from the subject or lose concentration: His thoughts kept straying to the weekend.
4. To depart from accepted moral standards.

Noun

1. A domestic animal that has wandered off or has no home.
2. A person or thing separated from its group or proper place.
3. (northern England) A piece of unenclosed common pasture.

Adjective

1. Having wandered off or become lost; homeless: a stray cat.
2. Scattered or isolated; occurring by chance: A stray sock turned up behind the dryer.

Word family

• strayer
• unstraying

Related words

• astray
• estray
• street
• extravagant
• waif

Usage notes

In Cheshire dialect stray also meant to strew or scatter;^[15] the OED and the Shorter Oxford trace that use to Old English strēġan, related to strew, and not to the French verb.^[8][6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)