STRAY


Meaning of STRAY in English

I. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a stray bullet (= one that someone fires by mistake )

He was tragically killed by a stray bullet.

a stray cat (= one that has lost its home )

He found a stray cat and started feeding it.

a stray dog (= a pet dog that is lost )

He was always bringing home stray dogs.

a stray/wayward curl (= hanging in an untidy way )

Emily pushed back a stray curl.

stray from/leave the fold

a former advocate of free market economics who had strayed from the fold

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

far

But it can not stray far from water.

But Ellington, a duke with an imperious streak, never wanted Strayhorn to stray far from his empire.

Jones explores each in turn, calling on other metaphors to illustrate his points, but never strays far from mainstream physics.

It seldom strays far from this retreat, feeding on organisms that float by with the current.

The boy wouldn't have strayed far .

But the boy wouldn't stray far .

never

Do women instinctively want to find a mate and never stray ?

He never strays far from elegant applications of the theory to field and laboratory studies, many of them his own.

Jones explores each in turn, calling on other metaphors to illustrate his points, but never strays far from mainstream physics.

Over two years of use, for more than 4,000 tests, it has never strayed beyond the permitted margin of error.

They will never stray any more.

■ NOUN

path

His body was left to rot as a warning to others who might be tempted to stray from those paths of righteousness.

Red learned never to stray from the path or talk to strangers again.

Remember that if you have strayed from the sensible paths of nutrition on occasion - panic not!

After you'd allowed Water Gypsy to stray into the path of another boat.

Many students had strayed from the socialist path and needed to be reminded of the superiority of the socialist system.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

waifs and strays

He also made a special study of the outcasts, the waifs and strays of industrial society the vagrants and the idiots.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

A number of Charles's men were killed because they had strayed out of formation.

An antimatter atom that strays and touches the container wall would set off a chain-reaction annihilation.

But many other speakers and writers stray into the firing line.

Do women instinctively want to find a mate and never stray ?

Fowler may have been 25 yards out but you could see his antennae pick out Bennett straying off his line.

I have perhaps strayed away from matters of industry.

It's still no guarantee that he won't stray .

They were allowed little opportunity to stray from their group.

II. adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

bullet

Dimples like heavy rain spotted his wings as stray bullets went through, and then he reached the belt of anti-aircraft fire.

Many people were killed; four white spectators were unintentionally killed by stray bullets .

A stray bullet hit and killed the baby.

Five of the stray bullets bracketed him, whining angrily past to star the wall behind him.

Thirty-two men had got over and the only people hurt had been two patrolling guards hit by stray bullets .

Probably a stray bullet , I guess.

cat

The world is full of stray cats , many of them searching hopefully for a new home.

I was merely about to fire a blank to frighten off some stray cats .

A tribe of stray cats scattered as I turned into the yard where Ellen's apartment lay.

A dozen stray cats were asleep under a Con Edison awning and so were two winos.

By next morning some stray cat had eaten much of his back, so all I could do was measure him.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a stray sock

Four people were killed by stray bullets from the shoot-out.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

A stray pixel in the eternal bit map.

Gardeners regularly stroll the grounds, picking up stray pieces of trash and trimming unruly bushes.

I was merely about to fire a blank to frighten off some stray cats.

In a typical year about 40 stray Magellanic penguins used to arrive in the Rio area between June and August.

It soon became apparent that because of an administrative oversight our vehicle had not been insured against stray cattle.

She had been sustained by the stray wolf.

III. noun

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

From a starving stray it was transformed into a contented house cat.

He was some stray who had reminded her of the Scarabae agent.

It gets the undesirable strays off the streets.

Jessica, Chris, and I rode along the creek bed looking for strays.

The family plans to provide a home for the strays.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.