Forms: 4 strangere, 4–5 straungere, 4–6 straunger, 5 strangier, -yer, straungeour, -ior, -yer, strawnger(e, strayngour, strongere, strounger, (6 strenger), 5–6 Sc. strainger, strangear, 6 straungier, 4– stranger. See also ESTRANGER. [Aphetic a. OF. estrangier (mod.F. étranger) = Pr. estrangier, Sp. extrangero, Pg. estrangeiro, It. straniere, straniero:—popular L. *extrāneārius, f. L. extrāne-us: see EXTRANEOUS and STRANGE adjs.
The OF. word (like its equivalents in the other Rom. langs.) is primarily and chiefly an adj.; in Eng. the subst. use is primary, such adjectival uses as exist (see 13 below) being almost wholly developed from the attributive use of the sb.]
1. One who belongs to another country, a foreigner; chiefly (now exclusively), one who resides in or comes to a country to which he is a foreigner; an alien.
Now somewhat rare; the recent examples show mixture of sense 2 or 4.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XX. 402. And to the lord Dowglass gaf he The waward, for to leid and steir All haill the strangeris with him weir.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machor), 26. God mad hym to rest syn in france, in toron, til honouryt be, set þare a strangere was he.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 1109. More ouer take hede he must to aliene commers straungeres, and to straungers of þis land, resient dwelleres.
1487. Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 2. One Martin Swarte, a straunger, slayne all in a feild that they made againste the Kinge.
1493. Sc. Acts Jas. IV. (1814), II. 234/1. Quhene ony schip of alienaris or strangearis of vþer realmes cummys in þe havin of Leith.
c. 1511. 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. p. xxxii. We kepe also the poure people with our almes alle that cometh be it strenger or of oure owne people.
1569. in Southampton Court Leet Rec. (1905), I. 58. That none wthin the towne of Southampton englishe or stranger by enne butter other then for theire owne stowere.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., Pref. Then was I forced to runne to the workes of manie, both strangers and Englishmen … for a solution … of my doubt.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 11. As St. Augustine saith; A man had rather be with his dog than with a stranger (whose tongue is strange vnto him).
1650. A. Cowley, in T. Brown, Misc. Aulica (1702), 134. His Forces compos’d of about six hundred Strangers, and the rest drawn out of the Islands, are about two thousand.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xix. 101. Strangers (that is, men not used to live under the same government, nor speaking the same language).
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 358. At last they seise The Scepter, and regard not Davids Sons, Then loose it to a stranger.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary (1879), I. 3. In the judgement of Strangers as well as Englishmen it [sc. Wotton] may be compared to [etc.].
1729. T. Cooke, Tales, etc. 213. If stated Rules are observed … the Facility of learning the Language will be no small Inducement to the Study of it in Strangers.
1870. Dk. of Argyll, Iona, i. 14. The story … that a British chief invited the Saxon stranger from across the German Sea.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. 55. In a generation or two the stranger ceased to be a stranger. The foreign spoiler … insensibly changed into the son of the soil.
1906. W. A. Craigie, Relig. Anc. Scand., iv. 57. In Sweden, indeed, strangers appear to have run some risk of being selected as victims.
† b. Something that comes from abroad; esp. an exotic plant. Obs.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxxvii. 440. The apple of Perow is a stranger also [Ibid., supra: a strange plant].
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. lxxxiii. 133. The last [flower] is a stranger in England, yet we haue it and the rest in our gardens.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, cxi. There are divers Sorts of Wood-binds, some … known throughout the Land;… others are strangers, or not so well known.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xi. 17. This Declining Dial being a Stranger with us, followeth the fashion of his own Country.
1732. Lyttelton, Progr. Love, ii. 69. A Bird … Whose yellow Plumage shines like polish’d Gold; From distant Isles the lovely Stranger came, And bears the fortunate Canaries Name.
2. One who is not a native of, or who has not long resided in, a country, town or place. Chiefly, a new-comer, one who has not yet become well acquainted with the place, or (cf. 4) one who is not yet well known.
1447. Bokenham, Saints, i. (Marg.), 881. Allas, quod he, euene as a straunger And as vnknowyn also in this cuntre Ineuytabyily I must deyin her.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, C 2. Because I am a stranger in this land, & but here lately ariued, they wil hold me as an vpstart.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 90. Pardon me sir, the boldnesse is mine owne, That being a stranger in this Cittie heere, Do make my selfe a sutor to your daughter.
a. 1626. Bacon, New Atlantis, 5. He came to conduct vs to the Strangers House…. The Strangers House is a faire and spacious House, built of Brick, [etc.].
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, vi. I cannot show you the way, for I am almost a stranger here.
1845. Gosse, Ocean, iv. (1849), 178. But of all the constellations that stud the sky of the southern hemisphere, there is none that more strikes a stranger than the Southern Cross.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 311. Some allowance is to be made for him from the fact of his being a stranger in these seas.
transf. a. 1767. M. Bruce, Ode to Cuckoo, 1. Hail, beauteous Stranger of the wood! Attendant on the Spring!
1811. Hogg, Verses to Comet of 1811, 9. Stranger of heaven! I bid thee hail!
1864. Semmes, Cruise Alabama & Sumter, 24. The Governor at once proceeded to take legal opinion as to the propriety of permitting the suspicious stranger [the Sumter] to coal.
1892. Emily Lawless, Grania, I. 179. Leaning against a big boulder, a ‘stranger’ like the one that blocked the mouth of their own gully.
† b. In parochial registers: A person not belonging to the parish. Obs.
The Latin equivalent extraneus (extranea) was also commonly used.
1507–8. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 262. R’ of stevyn sawnderson for the beryell of a stranger, xij d. Ibid. (1517–8), 299. Ress’ for the buryall of a straunger in þe greate chircheyard … viij d.
1585. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (1863), II. 128. A poore child beinge a stranger baptd the 13th of Julye.
† c. Strangers’ silver (Sc.).
1591. Exch. Rolls Scot., XXII. 156. Borrowit fra the said clerk of register be his majestie of the straingeris siluer consignit in his handis.
3. A guest or visitor, in contradistinction to the members of the household. Now chiefly with mixture of sense 4.
To make a stranger of: to treat with ceremony, not as one of the family. Chiefly with negative.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), iv. 29. At grete Festes and for Straungeres, thei setten Formes and Tables.
1420–2. Lydg., Thebes, II. 1468. The fresshnesse of Her heuenly cheres So agreable was to the straungers,… that … hem thoght it lik a thyng Celestial.
1430–40. Bk. Curtasye, 801, in Babees Bk., 326. But he sende hit to ony strongere, A pese þat is hym leue and dere.
c. 1450–60. Bp. Grosseteste’s Househ. Stat., Ibid. 330. Commaunde ye the officers that they admitte your knowlechyd men, familiers frendys, and strangers, with mery chere.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 1155. He gart at ane sete burd the strangearis begin, The maist seymly in sale ordanit thame sete.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 214. Gyll, lat the cop raik for my bennysoun; And gar our Gaist begin, and syne drink thow to me; Sen he is ane stranger, me think it ressoun.
1509. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 296. The housholde seruauntes muste be put in some good ordre. The straungers of honeste … must be consydered.
1519. in Archæologia, XXV. 425. Straungers in ye same week Imprimis Mr Roger Woodows & his wyff, & his iiij servants from Sondaye till Wedynsdaye.
1577. H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk., 102. If that a straunger syt thee neare, See thou make him good cheare.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 316. And what thy stores contain, bring forth and poure Abundance, fit to honour and receive Our Heav’nly stranger.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. i. v. 93. That part that fronts the Gate, has a pretty neat room, which seems to be designed for the reception of Strangers.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xxxii. He now resides … at a relation’s house,… seldom sitting at the side-table, except when there is no room at the other; for they make no stranger of him.
transf. 1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. 76. A ground drye, fatte, and well laboured with the Mattocke, wherein the stranger may be well cherished [L. aduenis hospitale].
b. Any of the things that are popularly imagined to forebode the coming of an unexpected visitor, e.g., a floating tea-leaf in the cup; an excrescence on the wick of a candle, causing guttering; a piece of soot flapping on the bar of the grate; a moth flying towards one.
1838. G. Wilson, Lett., in Jessie A. Wilson, Mem., iii. (1860), 136. Have you seen any strangers floating in your tea?
1862. C. C. Robinson, Dial. Leeds, 423. Stranger, a name given to the soot-flakes which peel off, and flutter on the bars of fire-grates [etc.].
1870. Brand’s Pop. Antiq. (ed. Hazl.), III. 181. A kind of fungus in the candle, he [sc. Grose] observes, predicts the visit of a stranger from that part of the country nearest the object. [Addit. note] This is called a stranger.
1894. R. Leighton, Wreck Golden Fleece, 84. Pausing only to take up the silver snuffers and clip a ‘stranger’ from the wick of the guttering candle.
1896. Proudlock, Borderland Muse, 7. Oh see, Granny, see! A stranger sae bonnilie flaps on the bars.
4. An unknown person; a person whom one has not seen before; also in wider sense, a person with whom one is not yet well acquainted. Phrases, a perfect, a total, an utter stranger. Const. to.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1075. And, for he was a straunger, somwhat she Lyked him the bet, as … To som folk ofte newe thing is swote.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, xii. 43. Incontynente that she felte her self to be thus sodaynly kyst of a man straunger out of her knowlege, she [etc.].
1522. More, De quat. Noviss., Wks. 81/1. So that if thou consider this well, thou maist loke vpon deth, not as a stranger, but as a nigh neibour.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. iv. 4. The Duke … hath known you but three dayes, and already you are no stranger.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 30 Jan. 1653. At our own parish Church a stranger preach’d.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 283. When I came to England, I was as perfect a Stranger to all the World, as if I had never been known there.
1798. Sophia Lee, Canterb. T., Young Lady’s T., II. 488. Sir Edward, perceiving … a person quite a stranger to him.
1825. Lytton, Zicci, i. But the stranger had an air and tone with him it was impossible to resist.
1876. J. Parker, Paracl., I. viii. 114. He [Christ] has always been a stranger, viewed with suspicion.
1893. D. Davidson, Mem. Long Life, viii. (ed. 2), 198. Mr. Bell was sitting at breakfast, when a stranger entered his bungalow.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, v. 41. After all, you must remember that up to a few days ago you were a comparative stranger to your aunt Jane.
transf. 1878. H. S. Leigh, Town Garland, 77. Helvellyn I have never seen, While Snowdon is a stranger quite.
1889. Gretton, Memory’s Harkback, 168. Would I not drive myself? No; I could drive a horse of my own, but would have nothing to do with a stranger.
b. Said playfully of a newborn child.
‘Welcome, little stranger!’ was a quotation common in the early part of the 19th century, and sometimes printed or embroidered on articles for nursery use.
1791. Derby Mercury, 3 Feb., 4/3. The rustic father, probably not liking to give countenance to so many little strangers, has thought proper to abscond.
1829. Scott, Guy M., Introd. ‘I fear from your looks,’ said the father, ‘that you have bad tidings to tell me of my young stranger.’
1856. H. Mayhew, Rhine, 41. A medical bulletin, informing you of that day’s state of health of some ‘little stranger’ and its mother within.
1896. Kipling, Seven Seas, Three-decker, 14. We never talked obstetrics when the Little Stranger came.
c. Vocatively. (Said to be, in rustic use in the U.S., the customary mode of address to one whose name is unknown.)
1817. M. Birkbeck, Notes Journ. Amer. (1818), 81. On my way … a man … hailed me with the common, but to us quaint appellation of ‘stranger.’
1827. J. F. Cooper, Prairie, ix. I should be better pleased, stranger,… to be sure the creature was a beast at all.
1884. Phillipps-Wolley, Trottings of Tenderfoot, 33. Mighty big feet of yourn, ain’t they, stranger?
d. Predicatively, said of one whose visits have long ceased. † Also, one who never visits (a place), an absentee from.
1530. Palsgr., 625/2. I make my selfe a straunger for leavyng to resorte to a place, je me aliene. Ibid. (1540), Acolastus, I. i. D j. Pel. Hast thou not herde tell … of my sonne? Ev. What studyeth he…? Pel. To make hym selfe a straunger from his fathers howse [etc.].
1580. G. Harvey, Three Proper Lett., 37. I am lately become a maruellous great straunger at myne olde Mistresse Poetries.
1620. [G. Brydges], Horæ Subs., 174. To make themselues altogether strangers from the Court and Towne is too strict.
1706. De Foe, Appar. Mrs. Veal (1732), 3. I am surprized to see you, you have been so long a Stranger.
1884. Annie S. Swan, Carlowrie, x. 161. ‘Eh, Miss Ritchie, what a stranger!’ exclaimed Mrs. Dalrymple’s pleasant voice.
5. A non-member of a society. Now rare.
c. 1376[?]. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 76. Also þat no brother no sister ne shalle discuse þe counseil of þis fraternite to no straungere.
1556. Rec. Inverness (New Spald. Club), I. 3. For withhalding of … strangeris nocht to be excepit amangis thame as burges or gild broder.
1576. in W. M. Williams, Ann. Founders’ Co. (1867), 65. To comyte to prison those two Strangers which do refuse to be sworne to observe … Ordynances of theyre sayde Companye.
1879. H. C. Powell, Amateur Athletic Ann., 22. Portal, of Balliol, had little difficulty in taking the first prize in the 300 yds. strangers’ handicap [at Corpus sports].
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 607. Brechin Photographic Association…. The use of the dark room … is granted to strangers at the nominal charge of 1s. per month.
b. Parliament. One who is not a member or official of the House, and is present at its debates only on sufferance. So occas. with reference to a court of justice.
I spy strangers: the formula used by a member in demanding the expulsion of strangers from the House.
1809. Hansard’s Parl. Deb., XIV. 255. The gallery was not re-opened to strangers, and the house shortly afterwards divided on Mr. Canning’s Amendment.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Parl. Sk. We will try our fortune at the Strangers’ gallery, though the nature of the debate encourages very little hope of success.
1861. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xix. 322. Each court should have the power of excluding strangers in certain cases.
1886. H. W. Lucy, Diary Gladstone Parlt., 120. The galleries over the clock were all full, strangers displaying an undying interest in the proceedings.
6. A person not of one’s kin; more fully, stranger in blood. Also, a person unconnected by ties of friendship or the like. † To put on the stranger: to affect a distant manner.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lxviii. 8. I am become a straunger vnto my brethren, and an aleaunt vnto my mothers children.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, XII. i. (Rtldg.), 423. I came up to pay my devotions; but whim … determined her to put on the stranger, and receive my compliments with so discouraging a coldness, as to throw me into some little confusion.
1860. Hawthorne, Transform., xxiii. That Miriam—until yesterday her oldest friend—had a right to be told … that henceforth they must be for ever strangers.
7. One who has no share in (some privilege or business). Const. of, from. ? Obs.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, d vj. We and alle the world were delyuered to the perille of the deth of helle and made straungers of the greete ioye of paradys.
c. 1535. Nisbet, Prol. Rom., Wks. (S.T.S.), III. 323. Heythen quhilkis ar strangers from the lyf of Gode.
1611. Sir J. Digbye, Lett., 2 Feb., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 559. The French Ambassr here is much dejected that he has been made a mere stranger in this business.
b. Law. One not privy or party to an act. Const. to. Also, one not standing towards another in some relation implied in the context.
1543. tr. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 7. The sayde fyne to be a fynall ende, and to conclude aswell pryueys as straungers to the same.
1642. trans. Perkins’ Profit. Bk., x. § 691. 298. The feoffees … are strangers unto the lease [AF. ils sont estranges a le lease].
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. xiv. 418. If a servant … by his negligence does any damage to a stranger, the master shall answer for his neglect. Ibid. (1766), II. xxi. 356. Strangers to a fine are all other persons in the world, except only parties and privies.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 367. If a feoffment from the cestui que use to a stranger, after he had conveyed the use, would have made the fine undoubtedly good, the like feoffment would [etc.].
1842. S. Greenleaf, Evid., I. § 522. 672 (Funk). It is also a most obvious principle of justice, that no man ought to be bound by proceedings to which he was a stranger.
† 8. Something alien; something that has no place in (a class, the nature of a thing, a person’s character, thoughts or discourse). Const. to. Obs.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., I. B 4 b. Pish, tis our nature to desire things That are thought strangers to the common cut.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 125. I … Heere abiure The taints, and blames, I laide vpon my selfe, For strangers to my Nature.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Nice Valour, V. ii. The name of envy is a stranger here.
a. 1653. Binning, Sinner’s Sanct., v. Wks. (1735), 183. It is no wonder that we cannot speak any Thing to Purpose of this Subject,… because it is indeed a Mystery to our Judgments, and a great Stranger to our Practice.
1703. Rowe, Fair Penit., Ded. Those violent Passions which have been always Strangers to so happy a Temper as your Grace is Mistress of.
1715. J. Hughes, Spenser’s Wks., I. Remarks p. xciv. Before his [Spenser’s] time, Musick seems to have been so much a Stranger to our Poetry, that … we have very few Examples of Verses that had any tolerable Cadence.
1722. A. Philips, Briton, I. v. 10. A Friend accounted long, I felt her Charms, When Yvor was a Stranger to her Thoughts.
1838. T. Mitchell, Clouds of Aristoph., 461–2, note. Language derived from the art of war appears to have been no stranger to the mouth of Socrates.
9. Predicatively, a stranger to —: Unacquainted with, ignorant of. (Distinct from sense 4.)
† a. Unacquainted with (a person, place, book, etc.). Obs.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, Ded. (e) 3 b. Long before I undertook this Work, I was no stranger to the Original.
1710. Felton, Diss. Classics (1718), 123. There is so much … Beauty in the Classics, that ’tis impossible to translate them so ill, as utterly to deface them, and quite spoil the Entertainment they afford those who are Strangers to them in their Native Tongue.
1721. [T. Thomas], Urry’s Chaucer, Pref. i. 2. As for my self, I was equally a stranger to Mr. Urry and his Undertaking, till some time after his Death.
1776. Cook, 2nd Voy., I. iii. I. 67. Fearing to run, in thick weather, into a place to which we were all strangers,… I tacked in twenty-five fathom water.
† b. Ignorant of (an art, a language, etc.). Obs.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., iii. 61. Though one that were a Stranger to the Art of Gardening, would think, that [etc.]. Ibid. (1688), Final Causes, i. 28. A great Book, written in some Indian Language, which he is utterly a Stranger to.
1741–2. Challoner, Mem. Missionary Priests, Pref. We must be utterly strangers to the history of that reign … if we deny that they [tortures] were in use in those times.
† c. Unaware of (a fact, state of things, something that has happened). Also with clause, to be no stranger, not to be unaware that. Obs.
1693–4. Phil. Trans., XVIII. 43. Had any Person, a stranger to what had been done, seen the Stumps, he would have supposed nothing less than an actual Cautery had been applyed.
1731–8. Swift, Pol. Conversat., iii. 190. Lady Answ. They say, she’s quite a Stranger to all his [sc. her husband’s] Gallantries.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iv. 166. The enemy was still a stranger to our having got round Cape Horn.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 327. They are no strangers that new beans will … give a horse the gripes.
1831. Scott, Ct. Robt., xiii. ‘I am no stranger,’ said the Varangian, ‘to the pride of your heart, or the precedence which you assume over those who have been less fortunate in war than yourselves.’
d. Having no experience of; unaccustomed to. Said of persons and things.
1633. Ford, Broken H., III. iv. I am no stranger to such easie calmes As sit in tender bosomes.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. (1693), 138. There are many that go upon the Road, that rather declare themselves Strangers to Pilgrimage, than Strangers and Pilgrims in the Earth.
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 17, ¶ 8. The Mother assured him that … [her daughter] was a Stranger to Man.
1728. Law, Serious C., iii. (1732), 32. A stranger to watchings, fastings, prayers, and mortifications.
1785. J. Phillips, Treat. Inland Navig., 28. Seamen are … preferred, for conducting the barges and boats, to people entirely strangers to the water.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 262. They [sc. Polish cavalry] are strangers to all discipline.
1826. Lamb, Pop. Fallacies, xii. It grew up without the lullaby of nurses, it was a stranger to the patient fondle.
1831. Scott, Ct. Robt., xxvi. This singular dialogue, in which he had assumed a tone to which his daughter was a stranger, and before which she trembled.
1833. T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., II. ii. A report … that his lordship was shortly to return to Dale Cottage, set the heart of the Parson’s Daughter into a sort of palpitation, to which … it had been a perfect stranger.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Mr. Watkins Tottle, ii. The dirty floor had evidently been as long a stranger to the scrubbing-brush as to carpet or floor-cloth.
1843. Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 654/2. He [Leopold I. of Belgium] was described as a stranger to dissipation.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., II. v. 185. No man … would willingly change a business to which he has been accustomed … for one to which he would be a stranger.
10. In popular names of animals.
a. Labrador. (See quot.)
1792. G. Cartwright, Jrnl. Labrador, I. Gloss. p. xv. Stranger, a water-fowl of the duck kind.
b. Certain species of moths.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 70. The Stranger (Mamestra Aliena,…) appears in June. Ibid., 214. The Stranger Knot-horn (Phycita advenella).
1869. E. Newman, Brit. Moths, 415. The Stranger (Hadena peregrina).
c. The Australasian fish, Odax richardsonii.
1875. Spectator (Melbourne), 19 June, 81/1. Common fish, such as … garfish, Strangers, Silvers, and others.
1891. Australasian (Melbourne), 15 Aug., 320. Melbourne markets. Salmon 5s. to 6s.; strangers 2s. to 4s.
1898. Morris, Austral Eng., 442.
† 11. A name for some form of stanza. Obs.
13[?]. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 86. If it were made in ryme couwee, Or in strangere or enterlacé.
12. slang. A guinea.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T.
13. attrib., passing into adj.
a. That is a stranger (in senses 1–5). Often hyphened.
Stranger-guest (cf. guest-friend, GUEST sb. 6): invented by Pope as a rendering of Gr. ξένος; used occas. by other writers for a stranger (sense 1 or 4) who is received as a guest.
1421. Coventry Leet Bk., 29. Allso we command that no maner of Straunger vitaler þat bryngithe See fische … to this cite for to sell, that he sell no maner of suche fische … till hit be ix of the cloke.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., I. 80 + 17. My lord,… ther were iij straunger kynges but late in your presence, that went to bedlem.
1543. Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.), II. 267. The Straunger seller and the Straunger byer do appoynt to mete at the said faire.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 119. You that did … foote me as you spurne a stranger curre Ouer your threshold, moneyes is your suite. Ibid. (1607), Per., II. iii. 67. Alas my Father, it befits not mee, Vnto a stranger Knight to be so bold.
c. 1619. Drumm. of Hawth., Conv. w. B. Jonson (1842), 4. His [Ben Jonson’s] judgement of stranger poets was: That he thought not Bartas a Poet, but a Verser…. That Guarini [etc.].
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 326. That no Corporation … shall let any house or dwelling place to any stranger Vsuror.
a. 1653. Binning, Common Princ. Chr. Relig., Wks. (1735), 31/2. Thus poor Stranger-Gentiles … come to share with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 248. Besides these are the Stranger Christians, Turks and Jews; the stranger Christians are either Franks or Greeks.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, VIII. 165. He said; and downward hasting to the Strand, Embrac’d the Stranger Prince, and join’d his Hand.
1725. Pope, Odyss., I. 156. The stranger Guest the royal Youth beheld. Ibid., I. 515, VII. 223, XV. 548.
1767. Jago, Edge-hill, I. 237. To chear The Stranger-Guest.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xiv. What think’st thou of our stranger guest?
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. xc. How many a doubtful day shall sink in night, Ere … Freedom’s stranger-tree grow native of the soil!
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IV. 121. Ah! to the stranger-soul, when first it peeps From its new tenement … how stern … a tract is this wide world!
1825. Waterton, Wand. S. Amer., IV. i. 287. I saluted him as one stranger gentleman ought to salute another when he wants a little information.
1859. Tennyson, Marr. Geraint, 286. Pardon me, O stranger knight.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 287. Her enchantment is removed … by means of a stranger prince.
b. Pertaining to a stranger or to strangers; also, situated abroad; foreign.
1593. Norden, Spec. Brit., Cornw. (1728), 98. Salt-ashe … hath anchorage and soylage of all straunger ships.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 99. But she that neuer cop’t with straunger eies, Could picke no meaning from their parling lookes. Ibid. (1593), Rich. II., I. iii. 143. You cousin Herford … Shall … tread the stranger pathes of banishment.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, IV. i. 119. The Spaniards will not permit any souldier of a straunger nation to beare office among them.
1598. Marston, Met. Pigmalion’s Image, Reactio 60. Raile … At all Translators that do striue to bring That stranger language to our vulgar tongue.
1671. R. Montagu, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 501. Commissions will … be given out for all the stranger troops that are to be raised.
1685. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 402. [She begged him to burn her letters, that] no stranger eye may censure them hereafter.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 502. O Sister! not with causeless Fear possest, No Stranger Voice disturbs thy tender Breast.
1810. Montgomery, West Indies, II. 215. Condemn’d … in stranger-isles to bear,… Through life’s slow journey, to its dolorous close, Unseen, unwept, unutterable.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. xiii. 9. Perchance my dog will whine in vain, Till fed by stranger hands.
1837. Hallam, Lit. Europe, I. I. iv. § 25. The north of Italy still endured the warfare of stranger armies.
1880. Ruskin, Bible of Amiens, I. i. 2. And of these, the fruits of her hands,… she sent also portions to stranger nations.
c. Not one’s own (or its own); alien. rare.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. 75 b. Some delight to be set in trees, and not in the grounde: and when they haue no soyle of their owne, they liue in a stranger [L. cum suam sedem non habeant, in aliena viuunt].
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. II. ii. 39. Long ’tis till water boild doth stranger heat controul.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Elegies, xiii. 13. Life is that stranger land, that alien clime.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cii. The roofs, that heard our earliest cry, Will shelter one of stranger race.
14. Comb., as stranger-like, -tongued adjs.; stranger-born a., of foreign birth (the first example is doubtful); stranger-wise adv., as a stranger.
1473. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 78/2. The which Michell Potter…, *straunger born, not made nor beyng Denizein, late purchased.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, XVI. 687. The slain, though stranger-born, Had been a pillar of the realm of Troy.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., VII. 19. A pretty church,… Yet *stranger-like,—while this Lorenzo seems My own particular place, I always say.
1824. J. Symmons, trans. Æschylus’ Agamemnon, 112. Bred in strange land, in city *stranger-tongued.
1616. Surflet & Markham, Country Farm, I. i. 2. Either little, or very *stranger-wise, acquainted with them.
a. 1894. Augusta Webster, Mother & Daughter (1895), 16.
| Child, I’d needs love thy beauty stranger-wise. | |
| And oh the beauty of it, being thou! |
Hence Strangerdom, Strangerhood, Strangership, the condition or fact of being a stranger.
1867. Miss Mulock, Fair France, i. (1871), 6. The glorious independence of total *strangerdom.
1857. J. Hamilton, Less. Gt. Biog., 218. No stiffness, no mien of *strangerhood, to the redeemed of other countries.
1890. H. M. Stanley, Darkest Africa, I. xi. 293. This began the exchange of friendly intercourse. Strangerhood was broken.
1824. Lætitia M. Hawkins, Mem., I. 290. It was her care to put every body at ease; it was her delight to break the barrier of *strangership.
1829. Bentham, Justice & Cod. Petit., 188. In a case where … the party … is by strangership, relative indigence, or bad character, disabled from finding any security.
1834. De Quincey, Autob. Sk., Wks. 1853, I. 221. His next care was … to withdraw me the stranger from any oppressive feeling of strangership.
1881. Macfarren, Counterpoint, iii. 8. And the 7th note has an effect of strangership in any key.
