estray

E1S1T1R1A1Y4
/əˈstɹeɪ/

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.

OriginMiddle English astrai ← Anglo-Norman estray →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounestray (plural estrays)

plural estrays

  1. lawAn 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.
  2. archaicStray.

    [...] All the day / Had been a dreary one at best, and dim / Was settling to its close, yet shot one grim / Red leer to see the plain catch its estray.

    1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section VIII
verbestray (third-person singular simple present estrays, present participle estraying, simple past and past participle estrayed)

present singular third person estrays · participle present estraying · participle past estrayed · past estrayed

  1. archaicTo stray.

    With other Maids to fiſh upon the Shoar; Estrays apart, and leaves her Company

    1614, Samuel Daniel, Hymen's Triumph

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
feral cat

Origin

  1. Anglo-Normanestray
  2. Middle Englishastrai
  3. Englishestray

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

More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

stayerreastyEastrystareytyraseTreysa
Cite this entry
APA

estray. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/estray

MLA

“estray.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/estray. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “estray,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/estray.

Source: estray on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.