Detritus

Word of the Day for Wednesday April 27, 2005

detritus \dih-TRY-tuhs\, noun;
plural detritus:
1. Loose material that is worn away from rocks.
2. Hence, any fragments separated from the body to which they
belonged; any product of disintegration; debris.

The water was smooth and brown, with detritus swirling in
the eddies from the increasing current.
--Gordon Chaplin, [1]Dark Wind: A Survivor's Tale of Love
and Loss

If they [flying cars] were easy to produce, we'd be walking
around wearing helmets to protect us from the detritus of
flying car crashes.
--Gail Collins, "Grounded for 2000," [2]New York Times,
December 7, 1999

The loose detritus of thought, washed down to us through
long ages.
--H. Rogers, Essays
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Detritus derives from the past participle of Latin deterere,
"to rub away, to wear out," from de-, "from" + terere, "to
rub." It is related to detriment, at root "a rubbing away, a
wearing away," hence "damage, harm."
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This was the word of the day for April 13th, excactly two weeks ago. Now dictionary.com is really starting to make me cross. Here is my post on detritus from April 13th.