ˈflätsəm sometimes -lōt- noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration of earlier flotsen, from Anglo-French floteson, from floter to float, from Old French — more at flotant
1. : wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on the sea — distinguished especially in legal usage from jetsam and lagan
2. : something floating or drifting about on or as if on the surface of a body of water: as
a. : a floating population (as of useless, vagrant, or worthless people)
the skid row flotsam
b. : an accumulation of unimportant, miscellaneous, and often disordered trifles