Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1200-1300
Language: Old French
Origin: estraier, from Vulgar Latin extragare, from Latin extra- 'outside' + vagari 'to wander'

stray

1 verb
     
stray1 [intransitive]
1 to move away from the place you should be
stray into/onto/from
Three of the soldiers strayed into enemy territory.
2 to begin to deal with or think about a different subject from the main one, without intending to
stray into/onto/from
We're straying into ethnic issues here.
This meeting is beginning to stray from the point.
3 if your eyes stray, you begin to look at something else, usually without intending to
stray to/back/over etc
Her eyes strayed to the clock.
4 to start doing something that is wrong or immoral, when usually you do not do this
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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