refugee vs stray

refugee

noun
  • A person who flees one place or institution for another. 

  • A person seeking refuge due to a natural disaster, war, etc. 

  • A person seeking refuge in a foreign country out of fear of political persecution or the prospect of such persecution in their home country, i.e., a person seeking political asylum. 

  • A person formally granted political or economic asylum by a country other than their home country. 

verb
  • To convey (slaves) away from the advance of the federal forces. 

stray

noun
  • An act of wandering off or going astray. 

  • An area of common land for use by domestic animals generally. 

  • Any domestic animal that has no enclosure nor proper place and company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray. 

  • An instance of atmospheric interference. 

  • One who is lost, literally or figuratively. 

verb
  • To wander from company or outside proper limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray. 

  • To wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err. 

  • To cause to stray; lead astray. 

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

adj
  • Having gone astray; strayed; wandering 

  • In the wrong place; misplaced. 

How often have the words refugee and stray occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )