Meaning
Goods or wreckage found floating on the sea; more broadly, any accumulation of discarded odds and ends, and by extension, often dismissively, destitute or homeless people regarded as drifting through society. Now nearly always figurative; applying it to homeless or destitute people can sound callous, so take care in serious contexts. The flotsam and jetsam distinction still matters technically in salvage law. Regional use: General English.
Origin
Both nouns began as categories of maritime salvage law. Flotsam, from Old French flotaison, a floating, covered wreckage or cargo left floating by the sea; jetsam, a derivative of jettison, covered goods deliberately thrown overboard to lighten a ship in distress; lagan covered sunken goods tied to a buoy so the owner could recover them, and derelict covered abandoned property with no hope of recovery. Dated English evidence: a 1570 decree from Sandwich grants the Lord Warden rights over wrecks found floating and half of what was jettisoned ashore; the 1591 Articles concerning the Admiralty of England name Flotzon, Jetson, and Lagan together; John Cowell's legal dictionary records flotsam in 1607; and Robert Callis, citing Coke, lists flotsan, jetsan, and lagan as the king's perquisite in 1622. The paired form without lagan was settled by 1848, when Walter Scott's diary speaks of household goods savouring of flotsome and jetsome.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- flotsam
- jetsam
- jetsam and flotsam
Usage Examples
- The beach was littered with the flotsam and jetsam of the storm: crates, rope, and shattered planking.
- His desk drawer held the flotsam and jetsam of thirty years at the office, from rubber bands to expired ID badges.
- The outreach team works with the flotsam and jetsam of the city, the people every shelter turns away each night.