Flotsam

Floatsam, Flotsm. [from Sax. fleolen, to float.] Floating on the water. Goods lost by shipwreck, and which lie floating on the top of the water.

CowelL Blount

Termes de la ley, 5 Co, 106. 1 Bl. Com. 292. 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 508, § 657.

This barbarous and uncouth appellation, as Blackstone terms it, is supposed by Spelman to be of German origin. It is exclusively applied to such goods as are cast out of a vessel by the violence of the winds or sea, as distinguished from such as are intentionally thrown overboard.

See Jetsam.