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Feral vs Stray - What's the difference?

feral | stray |

As adjectives the difference between feral and stray

is that feral is feral; wild while stray is having gone astray; strayed; wandering; as, a stray horse or sheep.

As a noun stray is

any domestic animal that has an enclosure, or its proper place and company, and wanders at large, or is lost; an estray.

As a verb stray is

to wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.

feral

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Wild, untamed, especially of domesticated animals having returned to the wild.
  • (of a person) Contemptible, unruly, misbehaved.

    • Derived terms

    * feral child * feral cat

    Hyponyms

    * feral child * feral cat * razorback

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
  • * 1960 May 19, , Notes and Comments: No homes for the pigeons , page 1261,
    • Although it is not difficult to induce domestic pigeons to nest in boxes fixed to trees, London?s ferals are not yet acclimatized to arboreal holes.
  • * 2005 , Alexandra Powe Allred, Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities , unnumbered page,
    • Traffic, abuse, inhumane traps, and accidental poisoning are other hazards ferals' must face.In England one gamekeeper claimed to have killed over three hundred ' ferals , while another brought home pelts to his wife so that she could design rugs from cat skins as a source of secondary income.
  • * 2007 , Clea Simon, Cries and Whiskers , page 26,
    • You trap ferals , neuter them, and give them their rabies shot. Maybe distemper.
  • * 2011 , Gina Spadafori, Paul D. Pion, Cats for Dummies , unnumbered page,
    • If you?ve ever put a saucer of milk out for a hard-luck kitty, or if you?re spending your lunch hour sharing sandwiches with the ferals near your office, this is the chapter for you.
  • (Australia, colloquial) A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.
  • (Australia, colloquial) A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.
  • * 1995 , Bill Metcalf, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative Lifestyles in Australia , page 82,
    • The intolerance which was directed towards us during the early years has now shifted to ‘the ferals'’ who embrace a new version of nonconformist behaviour that even some of us in their parent?s generation — the Aquarian settlers — don?t like. The ' ferals are the scapegoats for the drug problems here, and are highly visible since many of them have nowhere to live.
  • * 2002 , , Something Fishy , 2003, page 208,
    • A pod of ferals was moving towards the exit, a half-dozen soap-shy, low-tech, bush-dwelling hippies.
  • * 2010 , Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle For Tasmania's Forests , page 102,
    • It?s the rootlessness of the ferals that people don?t seem to trust; their claims of connectedness to all wild places touches a nerve. Even residents of Maydena who want to see the Florentine protected dislike the ratbags? itinerancy.

    Usage notes

    * The term should not be confused with feral child, a child raised with little or no human assistance.

    Anagrams

    *

    stray

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any domestic animal that has an enclosure, or its proper place and company, and wanders at large, or is lost; an estray.
  • (figuratively) One who is lost, either literally or metaphorically.
  • The act of wandering or going astray.
  • (historical) An area of common land or place administered for the use of general domestic animals, i.e. "the stray"

    • Related terms

    * (l) * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.
  • * Denham
    • Thames among the wanton valleys strays .
  • To wander from company, or from the proper limits; to rove at large; to roam; to go astray.
  • (figurative) To wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err.
  • * November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, " Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
    • It was a derby that left Manchester United a long way back in Manchester City’s wing-mirrors and, in the worst moments, straying dangerously close to being their own worst enemy.
  • To cause to stray.
  • * 1591 , , V. i. 51:
    • Hath not else his eye / Strayed his affection in unlawful love,

    Synonyms

    * deviate

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Having gone astray; strayed; wandering; as, a stray horse or sheep.
  • In the wrong place; misplaced.
    • a stray comma

    Derived terms

    * stray line * stray mark

    References

    Anagrams

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