wreckage
(ˈrɛkɪdʒ)
[f. wreck v.1 + -age 3.]
1. The action or process of wrecking; the fact of being wrecked. Also fig.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. v. ii, Wreckage and dissolution are the appointed issue for both [sc. wisdom and folly]. 1890 Gasquet & Bishop Edw. VI & Bk. Com. Prayer 272 A lively picture of the wreckage of ecclesiastical structures at that time [1548–9]. 1899 Mackail Life Morris II. 291 There had been much wreckage of unverified beliefs and extravagant hopes. |
2. Fragments or remains of a shattered or wrecked vessel; wreck.
| 1846 Worcester (citing Times). 1867 Morn. Star 4 Feb., A large quantity of timber, ship's spars, &c...The wreckage appeared to be that of a large ship. 1885 T. P. Battersby Elf Island 36 The deck was..covered with wreckage. 1899 Doyle Duet (1909) 119/2 Some of the wreckage from those vanished vessels. |
| attrib. 1898 Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 23 His wreckage-spars, His harried ships. |
b. pl. Pieces or fragments of wreck.
rare.
| 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvii. vii, A bolt shot into the storm-tost Sea and its wreckages. |
3. Material of or from a wrecked or shattered structure; a ruined fabric, building, etc.
| 1874 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age xvi. 208 The ice-current..would leave upon their frozen shores the wreckage of the distant mountains. 1891 Baring-Gould In Troubadour-Land viii. 112 They form the wreckage of a palace for princes. 1894 Doyle Mem. Sherlock Holmes 103 The venerable wreckage of a feudal keep. |
b. fig. Persons whose lives have been wrecked, who have failed to maintain a position in society.
| 1883 F. Peek (title) Social Wreckage; a Review of the Laws of England as they affect the Poor. 1888 Pall Mall G. 26 Nov. 6/1 Twenty beds..are nightly filled by wreckage, more or less battered, from the stress of life. 1898 Daily News 18 Apr. 5/1 What a line of flotsam and jetsam it is!..that mass of human wreckage. |