Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
florid
Florida
Florida arrowroot
Florida Keys
Florida, Straits of
floriferous
florilegium
florin
florist
floristics
-florous
floruit
flory
floss
flossy
flotage
flotation
Click to move down the list of words
Also available:

World English Dictionary
Dictionnaire Français

flotsam

flot·sam [ flótsəm ]


noun 
Definition:
 
1. wreckage floating in sea: wreckage, debris, or refuse from a ship, found floating in the water. In maritime law, flotsam is what is found floating after a ship has sunk and jetsam is what was thrown from a ship while it was in trouble.

2. marginalized people: people who live on the margins of society, e.g. homeless people ( sometimes offensive )

[Early 17th century. < Anglo-Norman floteson< floter "float" < Germanic]

flotsam and jetsam discarded objects or odds and ends

Advertisement

© 2009 Microsoft