- He also made a special study of the outcasts, the waifs and strays of industrial society the vagrants and the idiots.
waifwaif /weɪf/ noun [countable] 
1someone, especially a child, who is pale and thin and looks as if they do not have a home2waifs and strays British English children or animals who do not have a home: 
She loved cats, and would take any waifs and strays into her home.
1someone, especially a child, who is pale and thin and looks as if they do not have a home2waifs and strays British English children or animals who do not have a home: She loved cats, and would take any waifs and strays into her home.