Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FLOTSAM, FLOTSON

n.[from float. ] Goods lost by shipwreck, and floating on the sea. When such goods are cast on shore or found, the owner being unknown, they belong to the king.

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

FLOTSAM; FLOTSON

Flot "sam, Flot "son, n. Etym: [F. flotter to float. See FFlotilla, and cf. Jetsam. ] (Law )

 

Defn: Goods lost by shipwreck, and floating on the sea; -- in distinction from jetsam or jetson. Blackstone.

 

New American Oxford Dictionary

flotsam

flot sam |ˈflätsəm ˈflɑtsəm | ▶noun the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea. Compare with jetsam. • people or things that have been rejected and are regarded as worthless: the room was cleared of boxes and other flotsam. PHRASES flotsam and jetsam useless or discarded objects. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Anglo-Norman French floteson, from floter ‘to float. ’

 

Oxford Dictionary

flotsam

flotsam |ˈflɒts (ə )m | ▶noun [ mass noun ] the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea. Compare with jetsam. • people or things that have been rejected or discarded as worthless: the room was cleared of boxes and other flotsam. PHRASES flotsam and jetsam useless or discarded objects. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Anglo-Norman French floteson, from floter ‘to float ’.

 

American Oxford Thesaurus

flotsam

flotsam noun search and salvage crews are gathering flotsam by the boatfuls: wreckage, cargo, remains; debris, detritus, waste, dross, refuse, scrap, trash, garbage, rubbish; informal dreck, junk.

 

Oxford Thesaurus

flotsam

flotsam noun 1 we were still finding interesting pieces of flotsam on the beach: wreckage, lost cargo, floating remains. 2 the room was cleared of boxes and other flotsam: rubbish, debris, detritus, waste, waste matter, discarded matter, dross, refuse, remains, scrap, lumber, odds and ends; N. Amer. trash, garbage; Austral. /NZ mullock; informal dreck, junk; Brit. informal grot, gash; vulgar slang shit, crap; Archaeology debitage; rare draff, raffle, raff, cultch, orts.

 

Sanseido Wisdom Dictionary

flotsam

flot sam /flɑ́ts (ə )m |flɔ́t -/名詞 U 1 (難破船から出た )漂流 [着 ]物, 破片 .2 〖集合的に; 複数扱い 〗浮浪者 .fl ò tsam and j é tsam がらくた, 寄せ集め .