stray

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stray/streɪ/

▶verb

• 1 move away aimlessly from a group or from the right course or place.

  ■ (of the eyes or a hand) move idly in a specified direction.

• 2 be unfaithful to a spouse or partner.

▶adjective

• 1 not in the right place; separated from a group.

• 2 (of a domestic animal) having no home or having wandered away from home.

• 3 Physics arising naturally but unwanted and usually detrimental: stray voltages.

▶noun

• 1 a stray person or thing, especially a domestic animal.

• 2 (strays) electrical phenomena interfering with radio reception.

– derivatives
strayer noun.

– origin ME: shortening of Anglo-Norman Fr. and OFr. estrayer (v.), Anglo-Norman Fr. strey (n.), partly from astray.