astray

adv

Etymology: From Middle English astraien or by apheresis straien, from Old French estraier (“to stray”), from late Medieval Latin extravagari (“to wander beyond”), from Latin extra (“beyond”) + vagārī (“to wander, stray”).

1. Away from the proper path; in a wrong or unknown direction.

   “Go, set the storm-winds free, / And sink their ships or scatter them astray, / And strew their corpses forth, to weltering waves a prey.”

2. Away from what is right and good; into error or evil.