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.

---

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

---

jetsam Idioms  

1. see flotsam and jetsam.

---

Etymology

Origin of jetsam

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

Example Sentences

When this extraterrestrial jetsam occasionally plunges through the atmosphere, it poses a risk to life, infrastructure and the environment.

From The Wall Street Journal

He recommends self-nudging, deliberately tuning our media inputs and scrolling practices to reduce time spent mentally fending off the internet’s flotsam and jetsam.

From The Wall Street Journal

It was enough to make a person feel no more than a speck, a scrap of flotsam or jetsam tossing in the waves, to be cast willy-nilly into such an unimaginable expanse.

From Literature

While the garden is rooted in local culture, built bit by bit from the flotsam and jetsam of Los Angeles locations and plants native to the ecology, the programming is more global in approach.

From Los Angeles Times

The cavernous space is mostly filled with chairs, desks, filing cabinets and other bureaucratic jetsam.

From Seattle Times