astray
adverb /əˈstreɪ/
/əˈstreɪ/
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘distant from the correct path’): from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French estraie, past participle of estraier, based on Latin extra ‘out of bounds’ + vagari ‘wander’.
Idioms Idioms
go astray
- to become lost; to be stolen
- Several letters went astray or were not delivered.
- We locked up our valuables so they would not go astray.
- to go in the wrong direction or to have the wrong result
- Fortunately the gunman's shots went astray.
- The argument is so complex, a reader might easily go astray.
lead somebody astray
- to make somebody go in the wrong direction or do things that are wrong
- Jack's parents thought the other boys might lead him astray.