flotsam — flot·sam / flät səm/ n: floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo compare jetsam Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. flotsam … Law dictionary
flotsam — ► NOUN ▪ wreckage found floating on the sea. Compare with JETSAM(Cf. ↑jetsam). ● flotsam and jetsam Cf. ↑flotsam and jetsam ORIGIN Old French floteson, from floter to float … English terms dictionary
flotsam — [flät′səm] n. [Anglo Fr floteson < OFr flotaison, a floating < floter, to float < MDu vloten (or OE flotian), to FLOAT] 1. the wreckage of a ship or its cargo floating at sea 2. odds and ends 3. unemployed people who drift from place to… … English World dictionary
flotsam — c.1600, from Anglo Fr. floteson, from O.Fr. flotaison a floating, from floter to float (of Germanic origin; see FLOAT (Cf. float)) + aison, from L. ation(em). Spelled flotsen till mid 19c. when it altered, perhaps under influence of many English… … Etymology dictionary
flotsam — UK [ˈflɒtsəm] / US [ˈflɑtsəm] or flotsam and jetsam UK [ˌflɒtsəm ən ˈdʒetsəm] / US [ˌflɑtsəm ən ˈdʒetsəm] noun [uncountable] 1) things that you find floating in the sea or lying on the beach, especially parts of a ship that has sunk 2) things… … English dictionary
flotsam — flotsam, flotsan /flotsam/ A name for the goods which float upon the sea when cast overboard for the safety of the ship, or when a ship is sunk. Distinguished from jetsam (goods deliberately thrown over to lighten ship) and ligan … Black's law dictionary
flotsam — flotsam, flotsan /flotsam/ A name for the goods which float upon the sea when cast overboard for the safety of the ship, or when a ship is sunk. Distinguished from jetsam (goods deliberately thrown over to lighten ship) and ligan … Black's law dictionary
Flotsam — Flot sam, Flotson Flot son, n. [F. flotter to float. See {FFlotilla}, and cf. {Jetsam}.] (Law) Goods lost by shipwreck, and floating on the sea; in distinction from jetsam or jetson. Blackstone. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
flotsam — [n] floating debris cargo, castoffs, jetsam, junk, odds and ends, sea drift, wreckage; concepts 260,674 … New thesaurus
flotsam — noun Etymology: Anglo French floteson, from floter to float, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English flotian to float, flota ship Date: circa 1607 1. floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo; broadly floating debris 2. a. a floating population… … New Collegiate Dictionary
