jettison
English
WOTD – 6 April 2007
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman getteson, from Old French getaison, from geter, jeter (modern French: would be *jetaison like pendaison); possibly from a Vulgar Latin *iectātiō, from *iectātus < iectāre, from Latin iactō. Doublet of jetsam.
Pronunciation
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛɾəsən/, /ˈd͡ʒɛtɪsən/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛtɪsn̩/, /-zn̩/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛɾɪsn̩/, /-zn̩/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
jettison (plural jettisons)
- (uncountable, collective) Items that have been or are about to be ejected from a boat or balloon.
- Synonym: jetsam ballast
- (countable) The action of jettisoning items.
Translations
collectively, items that have been or are about to be ejected from a boat or balloon
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the action of jettisoning items
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Verb
jettison (third-person singular simple present jettisons, present participle jettisoning, simple past and past participle jettisoned)
- To eject from a boat, submarine, aircraft, spaceship or hot-air balloon, so as to lighten the load.
- The ballooners had to jettison all of their sand bags to make it over the final hill.
- The jettisoning of fuel tanks.
- (figurative) To let go or get rid of as being useless or defective.
- Synonyms: discard, chuck, ditch, dump, junk, lose; see also Thesaurus:junk
- 2018 October 30, David Streitfeld, “Where Trolls Reigned Free: A New History of Reddit”, in New York Times:
- […] the defense of horrendous behavior as “free speech”; the jettisoning of “free speech” when it served corporate purposes; the way no one seeks permission but all expect forgiveness.
Translations
to eject from a boat
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to let go or get rid of
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Further reading
- jettison on Wikipedia.Wikipedia