Etymology

estray

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Middle English astrai ← Anglo-Norman estray
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The story

  1. Anglo-Norman · derived fromestray
  2. Middle English · inherited fromastrai
  3. English todayestray

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

Words from the same roots

Anglo-Normanestray all →

stray

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.