astray

English

Etymology

From Middle English astraien or by apheresis straien, from Old French estraier (“to stray”), from late Medieval Latin extravagari (“to wander beyond”), from Latin extra (“beyond”) + vagārī (“to wander, stray”).[1]

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈstɹeɪ/
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Adverb

astray

  1. In a wrong or unknown and wrongly-motivated direction.
    • 1907, Virgil, “1.X”, in Edward Fairfax Taylor, transl., The Æneid of Virgil‎[1], London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.:
      Go, set the storm-winds free, / And sink their ships or scatter them astray, / And strew their corpses forth, to weltering waves a prey.

Derived terms

Translations

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Translations to be checked

References

  1. ^ William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “astray”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

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