jetsam
or jet·som
goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore.
Origin of jetsam
1Words that may be confused with jetsam
- flotsam, jetsam
Words Nearby jetsam
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use jetsam in a sentence
After being rescued from the ocean several times Buster spent the rest of the afternoon collecting flotsam and jetsam.
We were in hopes they would look upon our boat as flotsam and jetsam, of which there was more or less strewn upon the beach.
The flotsam and jetsam of too many sentimental stories and fairy tales were afloat in the child's active mind.
Mildred's Inheritance | Annie Fellows JohnstonHe gathered it in and swept his tiny flash around in search of other jetsam from his tool kit.
Tight Squeeze | Dean Charles IngHe might just as well, he might much better, slump down in a sodden heap amid the rest of the jetsam.
Where the Pavement Ends | John Russell
No, there had been no wreck, yet all about her lay the wave-sodden flotsam and jetsam of many past disasters.
The Dragon's Secret | Augusta Huiell Seaman
British Dictionary definitions for jetsam
jetsom
/ (ˈdʒɛtsəm) /
that portion of the equipment or cargo of a vessel thrown overboard to lighten her, as during a storm: Compare flotsam (def. 1), lagan
another word for flotsam (def. 2)
Origin of jetsam
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with jetsam
see flotsam and jetsam.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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