Definition 1: Cargo thrown out of a ship or plane to lighten it.

Usage 1: In maritime law, "flotsam" refers to the remains of a shipwreck while "jetsam" refers to cargo or other material cast overboard. The two, however, are used in conjunction with each other today (flotsam and jetsam) to refer to any collection of random, useless objects.

Suggested usage: Think of jetsam in its new sense as something of no value thrown out for whatever reason: "When the economy dipped, the company threw out employees like so much jetsam rather than bailing itself out at the banks." However, today's word is used most often after its phrasemate, "flotsam," "Hermione spends her evenings with the human flotsam and jetsam milling about the local gin joints."

Etymology: In Middle English today's word was jetteson "the act of throwing cargo overboard to lighten a ship," today's "jettison." This word comes from Anglo-Norman getteson, descended from Vulgar Latin "*iectatio(n)," the noun from *iectare "to throw." The root of this word is found in many English borrowings from Latin: "eject," "subject," "adjacent," "jet," and "jetty." "Jettison" itself also originally referred to that which is cast off a ship but, in this sense, it underwent further corruption to "jetsam," as in today's "flotsam and jetsam." (We are happy that Bob Jochums, Pharm.D. of Atlanta, Georgia, didn't jettison this word but sailed it over to us for today.)