jetsam
or jet·som
[jet-suh m]
- goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore.
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Origin of jetsam
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for jetsam
Contemporary Examples
After being rescued from the ocean several times Buster spent the rest of the afternoon collecting flotsam and jetsam.
Historical Examples
How many performances of Tristan does this make, Mr. Jetsam?
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
This is my estate, and all flotsam and jetsam as is washed ashore is mine.
King o' the BeachGeorge Manville Fenn
The flotsam and jetsam are mere shreds and fragments of wasted lives.
How the Other Half LivesJacob A. Riis
The crowd passes over him in a flood, leaving him like jetsam among the stones.
JeremiahStefan Zweig
I copped it on the high seas—flotsam and jetsam,' says the 'roughneck.'
jetsam
jetsom
- 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)
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Word Origin
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
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with jetsam
jetsam
see flotsam and jetsam.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.