flotsam
Use Flotsam in a sentence
səmAlso called flotsam and jetsam (for defs 3, 4).
Origin:
1600–10; < Anglo-French floteson, derivative of floter to float < Old English flotian
1600–10; < Anglo-French floteson, derivative of floter to float < Old English flotian
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To flotsam
00:10
Flotsam
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
Collins
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
flotsam
c.1600, 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 influence of many English 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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
But by then my family will have become flotsam caught in the heave and thrust of its tide.
The flotsam and jetsam would go to the highest bidder.
Use a strainer on the drippings to get all the flotsam out of that.
Search pilots could see beer coolers and other flotsam bobbing in the water below.
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