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flot⋅sam

  [flot-suhm]
Use flotsam in a Sentence
–noun
1. the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water. Compare jetsam, lagan.
2. material or refuse floating on water.
3. useless or unimportant items; odds and ends.
4. a vagrant, penniless population: the flotsam of the city slums in medieval Europe.
Also called flotsam and jetsam (for defs. 3, 4).

Origin:
1600–10; < AF floteson, deriv. of floter to float < OE flotian
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To flotsam
flot·sam   (flŏt'səm)   
n.  
    1. Wreckage or cargo that remains afloat after a ship has sunk.
    2. Floating refuse or debris.
  2. Discarded odds and ends.
  3. Vagrant, usually destitute people.

[Anglo-Norman floteson, from Old French floter, to float, of Germanic origin; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: In maritime law, flotsam applies to wreckage or cargo left floating on the sea after a shipwreck. Jetsam applies to cargo or equipment thrown overboard from a ship in distress and either sunk or washed ashore. The common phrase flotsam and jetsam is now used loosely to describe any objects found floating or washed ashore.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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flotsam 
1607, from Anglo-Fr. floteson, from O.Fr. flotaison "a floating," from floter "to float" (of Gmc. origin) + -aison, from L. -ation(em). Spelled flotsen till mid-19c. when it altered, perhaps under infl. of many Eng. words in -some. In British law, flotsam are goods found floating on the sea as a consequence of a shipwreck or action of wind or waves; jetsam are things cast out of a ship in danger of being wrecked, and afterward washed ashore, or things cast ashore by the sailors. Whatever sinks is lagan.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: flot·sam
Pronunciation: 'flät-s&m
Function: noun
: floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo —compare JETSAM
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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