# Help me find an obscure word- **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282 "2011-11-27T22:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incensed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Incensed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incensed)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/1 "2011-11-27T22:41:24Z")
A year or two ago I ran across a word and thought-that’s neat, I should remember that, and promptly forgot it. The word in question means, roughly, **“stuff stranded by high water (receding).”** Similar to driftwood, but not limited to wood, and it isn’t flotsam or jetsam, either. So faceless cyber knights-errant, please oh please rout my ignorance on this matter. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/2 "2011-11-27T22:54:34Z")
Wrack? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/3 "2011-11-27T23:11:00Z")
I’m thinking that wrack is more concerned with wreckage without regard to where it is found. Detritus has the same problem, and is not even limited to water wreckage. The best I could find was strandline, which is the high-water mark left on an ebbing tide or a high-water mark from an earlier tide, (or, possibly, era). ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/4 "2011-11-27T23:19:19Z")
No, wrack (or tidewrack) is the word. Although drift may also be used, wrack is the word generally preferred by beach specialists for rubbish washed ashore; although the common meaning (and its origin) point to wreckage, its technical meaning has expanded. ---
**Author:** ![Incensed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Incensed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incensed)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/5 "2011-11-29T22:09:46Z")
Valiant guesses all, but none of those are ringing a bell. The more I think about it, the more the word seemed either related to water words (wash, float, etc) or to have an -age suffix. Also, I’m think of color that isn’t blue. Care to take a guess? But seriously, anyone else want to take a stab at this? It’s bedeviling the bejesus out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/6 "2011-11-29T22:14:46Z")
> [@Incensed](#): > > The more I think about it, the more the word seemed either related to water words (wash, float, etc) ‘Flotsam’ relates to water and sounds like ‘float’. But it means the floating hull of a ship or its cargo. On the other hand, one might say ‘The flotsam washed up onto the beach.’ In which case it is stranded on the beach but might still be referred to as ‘flotsam’. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/7 "2011-11-29T22:25:27Z")
Maybe [ligan](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Ligan+)or [lagan](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lagan) or [lagend](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Lagend)? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/8 "2011-11-29T22:31:40Z")
I’ve heard the terms flotsam and jetsam used occasionally… > **[Flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotsam_and_jetsam)** > > In maritime law, flotsam, jetsam, lagan, and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the remains of a ship that has been wrecked—a destroyed ship at sea, whether it has sunk or is floating on the surface of the water. > A wreck is categorized as property belonging to no apparent owner that either sinks to the seabed or floats on the surface of the water, whethe... ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/9 "2011-11-29T23:09:12Z")
I’m also going to guess [lagan](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lagan). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/10 "2011-11-29T23:36:55Z")
> [@Incensed](#): > > Valiant guesses all, but none of those are ringing a bell. The more I think about it, the more the word seemed either related to water words (wash, float, etc) or to have an -age suffix. Hmmm. Could you possibly be thinking of “dunnage”, disposable material used for ballast and stowage of ships’ cargo that is often illegally jettisoned and washes up on shore? The actual meaning of the word has nothing to do with tidewrack or driftwood, of course, but you might easily encounter a situation where you heard or read something like “there was a lot of dunnage washed up on the beach” and thought it just meant any form of tidewrack. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/11 "2011-11-29T23:41:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘Flotsam’ relates to water and sounds like ‘float’. . > [@dolphinboy](#): > > I’ve heard the terms flotsam and jetsam used occasionally… The OP says it’s not flotsam or jetsam. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/12 "2011-11-29T23:44:21Z")
missed it. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/13 "2011-11-30T00:32:32Z")
detritus? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-obscure-word/604282/14 "2011-11-30T01:11:51Z")
spindrift?