Flotsam and Jetsam Aren't Just Ursula's Eels

English speakers started using flotsam, jetsam, and lagan as legal terms in the 16th and 17th centuries (the earliest evidence of flotsam dates from around the early 1600s). The three words were used to establish claims of ownership to the three types of seaborne, vessel-originated goods they named. Flotsam was anything from a shipwreck (the word comes from Old French floter, meaning "to float"). Jetsam and lagan were items thrown overboard to lighten a ship. Lagan was distinguished from jetsam by having a buoy attached so the goods could be found if they sank. In the 19th century, when flotsam and jetsam took on extended meanings, they became synonyms, but they are still very often paired.

Examples of flotsam in a Sentence

flotsam washed up on the shore the dispirited family picked through the flotsam of their possessions after the hurricane, looking for anything that could be salvaged

Recent Examples on the Web All told, there are about 37,000 pieces of Gucci rarities, flotsam and priceless artifacts housed in the archives. — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 15 Nov. 2021 Logs and branches sail downstream on the current, forming snags that catch more flotsam, stray fishing bobbers and tangled tree stumps, soggy old baseball caps. — Katie Arnold, Outside Online, 25 July 2014 Getting rid of the flotsam in your home was a virtuous activity even before the pandemic, when lockdowns gave millions of people plenty of time to take a hard look at their stuff. — Lila Maclellan, Quartz, 31 Jan. 2022 And then it was put up for auction like a piece of celebrity flotsam. — Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2022 The hurtling field of debris generated by that test, and earlier ones by China, the US and India, have shown that flotsam can remain in orbit and threaten spacecraft for years. — Ramin Skibba, Wired, 1 Dec. 2021 But as such, antique stores and auction houses are also where the flotsam and jetsam of the worst aspects of material culture wash up — and continue to proliferate, even appreciating in value. — Sophie Haigney, Curbed, 11 Nov. 2021 But as the sheetwebs spin silk to flee an inhospitable habitat, their webs are flotsam from an evacuation. — Rebecca Giggs, The Atlantic, 9 Nov. 2021 The Phillies feature a few great players - Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, for example - and a bunch of flotsam. — Tony Blengino, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'flotsam.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.