jettison

WOTD – 6 April 2007    

Wikipedia

English

Pronunciation

• (Australian English) IPA: /ˈdʒɛɾəsən/ or IPA: /ˈdʒɛtɪsən/
• (RP) IPA: /ˈdʒɛtɪsən/
• (US) IPA: /ˈdʒɛtɪsən/, /ˈdʒɛtəsən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman getteson, from Old French getaison (French: would be *jetaison like pendaison). Cognate to jetsam

Noun

jettison (plural jettisons)

1. (uncountable) Collectively, items that have been or are about to be ejected from a boat or balloon.
2. (countable) The action of jettisoning items.

Synonyms

• (items jettisoned): jetsam

Translations

collectively, items that have been or are about to be ejected from a boat or balloon

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拋棄 (cmn), 抛弃 (cmn) (pāoqì)

• French: lest (fr) m

• German: Ballast (de) m
• Russian: выбрасывание груза за борт во время бедствия (vybrásyvanije grúza zá bort vo vrémja bédstvija) n (no exact term exists)

the action of jettisoning items

• French: délestage (fr) m, largage (fr)
• Norwegian: hive (no) n

• Russian: сброс (ru) (sbros) m, выбрасывание (ru) (vybrásyvanije) n (гру́за за́ борт)

Verb

jettison (third-person singular simple present jettisons, present participle jettisoning, simple past and past participle jettisoned)

1. 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.

2. To let go or get rid of as being useless or defective; discard.

Synonyms

• (to let go or get rid of as being useless): chuck, discard, ditch, dump, junk, lose, scrap, toss
• See also Wikisaurus:junk

Translations

to eject from a boat

• Dutch: lozen, overboord werpen
• Finnish: heittää yli laidan
• French: délester (fr), larguer (fr), jeter (fr) par-dessus bord (fr)

• German: über Bord werfen, Ballast abwerfen
• Russian: сбрасывать (ru) (sbrásyvatʹ) impf., сбросить (ru) (sbrósitʹ) pf. (груз за́ борт)
• Spanish: echar mercancías al mar, deslastrar (es), soltar lastre

to let go or get rid of

• Dutch: van de hand doen (nl), achterlaten (nl)
• French: se débarrasser (fr), abandonner (fr), (familiar) balancer (fr)

• Russian: выбрасывать (ru) (vybrásyvatʹ) impf., выбросить (ru) (výbrositʹ) pf.
• Spanish: desechar (es), expeler (es)