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.

to wander; roam

The new puppy strayed from room to room.

to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course

to stray from the teachings of the church.

to digress or become distracted.

a domestic animal found wandering at large or without an owner.

any homeless or friendless person or animal.

a person or animal that strays

the strays of a flock.

strays, Radio . static.

straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.

found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.

Radio . undesired

stray capacitance.

verb

remain , stay , go direct

adjective

devious , erratic , homeless , lost , roaming , roving , vagrant , astray , disoriented , wandering

verb

circumlocute , depart , digress , divagate , diverge , do wrong , excurse , get off the subject , get off the track , get sidetracked , go off on a tangent , ramble , sin , wander , be abandoned , be lost , deviate , drift , err , gad * , gallivant , go all over the map , go amiss , go astray , lose one’s way , meander , range , roam , rove , straggle , swerve , traipse , turn , wander away , wander off , gad , peregrinate , veer , abandoned , aberrant , errant , homeless , isolated , lag , occasional , random , runaway , sporadic , straggler , waif