Word.ws English Dictionary

catch a stray

catch a stray verb: to be unexpectedly and casually insulted in a seemingly unrelated discussion or argument.

Verb

catch a stray (third-person singular simple present catches a stray, present participle catching a stray, simple past and past participle caught a stray)

  1. (idiomatic, slang) To be unexpectedly and casually insulted in a seemingly unrelated discussion or argument.
    • Jayda goes at it with Teanna Trump and Lil Baby catches a stray.2020 December 18, @MXCKdotCom, Twitter, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2022
    • Nobody in the history of hip hop catch more strays than Tito Jackson.2021 June 2, @thoughtfulbae, Twitter, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2021

Forms of catch a stray

third-person singular presentcatches a stray
present participlecatching a stray
past participlecaught a stray
pastcaught a stray
alternative formcatch strays

Origin of catch a stray

From catch (“to be hit by”) + a + stray (“a stray bullet”).

Questions about catch a stray

What does catch a stray mean?
Catch a stray means to be unexpectedly and casually insulted in a seemingly unrelated discussion or argument.
What part of speech is catch a stray?
Catch a stray is a verb.
What is the past tense of catch a stray?
The past tense of catch a stray is caught a stray.

Words near catch a stray in the dictionary

  1. catch a fade
  2. catch a falling knife
  3. catch a packet
  4. catch a ride
  5. catch a square
  6. catch a stray
  7. catch a Tartar
  8. catch a wave
  9. catch air
  10. catch and kill
  11. catch and kiss

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch a stray (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “catch a stray.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catch_a_stray. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.