estray

Meanings

Noun

• An animal that has escaped from its owner; a wandering animal whose owner is unknown. An animal cannot be an estray when on the range where it was raised, and permitted by its owner to run. A lost animal whose owner is known to the party at hand is not an estray.
• Stray.

Verb

• To stray.

Origin

• From Middle English astrai, from Anglo-Norman estray, from the Old French verb estraier. Etymological doublet with stray.