Search the Dictionary

s from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way. Thames among the wanton valleys strays. Denham.

One who strays; a wanderer.

t of the right, either in a literal or in a figurative sense; wandering; as, to lead one astray. Ye were as sheep going astray. 1 Pet. ii. 25.

To stray. [Obs.] Daniel.

To wander; to stray. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Wandering; straying from the right way.

To go astray; to diverge. [R.] Their own defective and aberrating vision. De Quincey.

Out of the way; astray. Why should he wander afield at the age of fifty-five! Trollope.

Even; just. (Often a mere intensive adjunct.) [Obs. or Poet.] All as his straying flock he fed. Spenser. A damsel lay deploring All on a rock reclined. Gay. All to, or All-to. In such phrases as "all to rent," "all to break," "all-to frozen," etc., which are of frequent occurrence in our old authors, the all and the to…

Astray; faultily; improperly; wrongly; ill. What error drives our eyes and ears amiss Shak. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss. James iv. 3. To take (an act, thing) amiss, to impute a wrong motive to (an act or thing); to take offense at' to take unkindly; as, you must not take these questions amiss.…

The persons attending; a retinue; attendants. If your stray attendance by yet lodged. Milton.

To lead astray, as a maiden; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.

A spiritual overseer, superintendent, or director. Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Pet. ii. 25. It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the church is cal…

edlework representing branches, flowers, or twigs. The train whereof loose far behind her strayed, Branched with gold and pearl, most richly wrought. Spenser.

of hair, natural or artificial, worn by a woman at the back of the head. A curl that had strayed from her chignon. H. James.

To lead about; to lead astray. [R.]

ous to each other, which have usually intercommoned with one another, to let their beasts stray into the other's fields. -- Common in gross or at large, a common annexed to a man's person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corpor…

To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals. Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. Ps. cxix. 157.

To go out of the way; to turn aside from a course or a method; to stray or go astray; to err; to digress; to diverge; to vary. Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, May boldly deviate from the common track. Pope.

Going out of the right or common course; going astray; erring; wandering; as, a devious step.