jettison

[jet-uh-suh n, -zuh n]

verb (used with object)

to cast (goods) overboard in order to lighten a vessel or aircraft or to improve its stability in an emergency.
to throw off (something) as an obstacle or burden; discard.
Cards. to discard (an unwanted card or cards).

noun

the act of casting goods from a vessel or aircraft to lighten or stabilize it.
jetsam.

Origin of jettison

1375–1425; late Middle English jetteson < Anglo-French; Old French getaison ≪ Latin jactātiōn- (stem of jactātiō) jactation

Related formsjet·ti·son·a·ble, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for jettisoning

junk, abdicate, dump, unload, scrap, shed, abandon, discard, expel, reject, cashier, maroon, cast, slough, hurl, heave, deep-six

Examples from the Web for jettisoning

Contemporary Examples of jettisoning

By jettisoning the aggressive rhetoric and cutting U.S. nuclear stockpiles, Reagan helped Gorbachev win at home.
What Ronald Reagan Can Teach Barack Obama About Dealing With Iran
Peter Beinart
September 24, 2013
Straighten up and fly right: the capsule is rolling and jettisoning its remaining ballast masses for parachute deploy.
Curiosity’s Mars Landing Narrated Moment by Moment by Flight Director Keith Comeaux
Keith Comeaux
August 7, 2012

Historical Examples of jettisoning

This jettisoning of his property with his own hand seemed uncanny to Soames.
The Forsyte Saga, Complete
John Galsworthy
The spectacle of the girl struggling with the stuff she was jettisoning put new determination into him.
Blow The Man Down
Holman Day
In the same place was a small airlock for jettisoning purposes and for taking in more supplies.
The Planet Strappers
Raymond Zinke Gallun
In the present work I have the opportunity which so few authors have enjoyed of jettisoning all technics into an Appendix.
The Foundations of Japan
J.W. Robertson Scott

British Dictionary definitions for jettisoning

jettison

verb -sons, -soning or -soned (tr)

to throw away; abandonto jettison old clothes
to throw overboard

noun

another word for jetsam (def. 1)

Word Origin for jettison

C15: from Old French getaison, ultimately from Latin jactātiō a tossing about; see jactation

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 jettisoning

jettison

1848, from jettison (n.) "act of throwing overboard" to lighten a ship. This noun was an 18c. Marine Insurance writers' restoration of the earlier form and original sense of the 15c. word that had become jetsam, probably because jetsam had taken on a sense of "things cast overboard" and an unambiguous word was needed for "act of throwing overboard."

Middle English jetteson (n.) "act of throwing overboard" is from Anglo-French getteson, from Old French getaison "act of throwing (goods overboard)," especially to lighten a ship in distress, from Late Latin iactionem (nominative iactatio) "act of throwing," noun of action from past participle stem of iectare "toss about" (see jet (v.)). Related: Jettisoned.