jetsam

American  

[jet-suhm] / ˈdʒɛt səm /

Or jetsom

noun

1. 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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jetsam British  

/ ˈdʒɛtsəm /

noun

1. that portion of the equipment or cargo of a vessel thrown overboard to lighten her, as during a storm Compare flotsam lagan

2. another word for flotsam

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jetsam Idioms  

1. see flotsam and jetsam.

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Etymology

Origin of jetsam

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

Explanation

Jetsam is debris floating around the water that has been dumped from a sinking ship. Sometimes beachcombers find jetsam washed up on shore. You often see the phrase "flotsam and jetsam" because both words refer to wreckage from a ship, but how the stuff got there is the difference. Flotsam is from a shipwreck, and jetsam is thrown off the ship to prevent it from sinking. People often use jetsam to mean any discarded objects, not just from the ocean.

Example Sentences

The two are among a handful of characters — like Flotsam and Jetsam, the surfer detectives — who reappear in Wambaugh’s work.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025

Metallica eventually hired Jason Newsted, who was then playing with the thrash-metal band Flotsam and Jetsam, to replace Burton.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 15, 2018

Inspired by Flotsam, Jetsam, What Have Them One of the most slighted schools of art is the School of Necessity.

From New York Times • Oct. 18, 2012

Here's his inimitably slithery phrasing and bittersweet tone in action, on Soprano Derivato Apricot Jam, from Robert Wyatt's 1994 Flotsam Jetsam album.

From The Guardian • Jul. 25, 2012

Having turned Jetsam Point the party came upon a long reach washed by the sea.

From The Mysterious Island by White, Stephen W.