jetsam

or jet·som

[jet-suh m]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR jetsam ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore.

Compare flotsam, lagan.

Origin of jetsam

1560–70; alteration of jetson, syncopated variant of jettison

Can be confusedflotsam jetsam

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for jetsam

castaway, stray, ragamuffin, urchin, foundling, drop, orphan, flotsam, fetch, jetsam, dogie, cargo, junk, wreckage

Examples from the Web for jetsam

Contemporary Examples of jetsam

After being rescued from the ocean several times Buster spent the rest of the afternoon collecting flotsam and jetsam.
Why I Hate The Beach
P. J. O’Rourke
July 27, 2014

Historical Examples of jetsam

How many performances of Tristan does this make, Mr. Jetsam?
Melomaniacs
James Huneker
This is my estate, and all flotsam and jetsam as is washed ashore is mine.
King o' the Beach
George Manville Fenn
The flotsam and jetsam are mere shreds and fragments of wasted lives.
How the Other Half Lives
Jacob A. Riis
The crowd passes over him in a flood, leaving him like jetsam among the stones.
Jeremiah
Stefan Zweig
I copped it on the high seas—flotsam and jetsam,' says the 'roughneck.'
The Crimson Gardenia and Other Tales of Adventure
Rex Beach

British Dictionary definitions for jetsam

jetsam

jetsom

noun

that portion of the equipment or cargo of a vessel thrown overboard to lighten her, as during a stormCompare flotsam (def. 1), lagan

another word for flotsam (def. 2)

Word Origin for jetsam

C16: shortened from jettison

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for jetsam

1560s, jottsome "act of throwing goods overboard to lighten a ship," alteration and contraction of Middle English jetteson, from Anglo-French getteson, Old French getaison "a throwing" (see jettison). Intermediate forms were jetson, jetsome; the form perhaps was deformed by influence of flotsam. From 1590s as "goods thrown overboard;" figurative use by 1861. For distinction of meaning, see flotsam.

Idioms and Phrases with jetsam

jetsam

see flotsam and jetsam.