waifs and strays

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waifs and strays

People or animals that are in need of a place to stay. "Waif" commonly refers to a person or animal that has been abandoned. It's heartbreaking to see so many waifs and strays wandering the city streets, with no one to care for them.
See also: and, stray
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

ˌwaifs and ˈstrays


1 people with no home, especially children in a big city: There are lots of waifs and strays living on the streets here.
2 (humorous) lonely people with nowhere else to go: My wife is always inviting various waifs and strays from work to our house. She seems to attract them.
See also: and, stray
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
See also:
References in periodicals archive ?
Mr Stathers said the use of the land was not domestic, adding that it seemed to be a 'waifs and strays' situation.
In person, she is an innocent, a spiritual waif, not unlike Herman Melville's Billy Budd.
As he proceeded to suck the face off the waif, I couldn't resist interrupting: "Colin Farrell, is that you?"
A SKINNY, unshaven waif cut from the same cloth as Jack White, Brendan Benson has been playing solo since he was 15.
When Claude, a henna-haired fifteen-year-old who dresses in what can only be called husky sizes, and her blonde waif of a best friend, Ellen (Tara Subkoff), pass the mirror one afternoon, they fall into a mock-sex routine: Claude, in baggy shorts and tee, playing the butch dude, Ellen his/her femmy conquest.
And does Keira possess the thespian skills to play cockney waif Eliza?
Perhaps she was trying to recreate her waif look - a reason why The Council of Fashion Designers honoured her at the bash as a fashion icon, with an award presented by David Bowie
This is to prove that "you do not have to conform to the waif look to succeed".
The Croydon waif has taken up with the delightfully-named magazine boss Jefferson Hack (inset).
1960s AT just 16 unbelievably skinny Twiggy became one of the most famous faces on the planet.The elfin-like, mini skirt-clad waif was at the heart of London's Swinging 60s.
Fomer catwalk waif Kate, 27, turned her hand to cards at the Southern Comfort party, making a pretty pair with her 30-year-old magazine editor boyfriend Jefferson Hack - said to be so cool he even wears sunglasses at night.
The sexy waif was spotted by the diary's South American spies downing a few Bellinis at a Buenos Aires bar last week after strutting her stuff on the local catwalk.
Recently, singer Billie Piper and Scotland's own Sharleen Spiteri, from Texas, have gone for the same "depressed mill town waif" look.
DON'T expect Penny Lancaster to emerge a size-six waif just weeks after becoming a mum.