jettison

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English

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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jettison (plural jettisons)

  1. (uncountable, collective) Items that have been or are about to be ejected from a boat or balloon.
    Synonym: jetsam ballast
  2. (countable) The action of jettisoning items.

Translations

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Verb

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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. (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[1]:
      [] 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

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Further reading

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