| 释义 |
▪ I. yam, n.1|jæm|
Forms: [6 nname, inany, ignane, iniamo, 6–7 inamia, 6–8 igname, 7 ignaman, ighname, iniamu, 7–8 inhame], 7 yeam(e, yawm, yaum, jamoo, 7–8 yame, 8 jamme, jamb, guam (?), yamm, 7– yam.
[a. Pg. inhame (Clusius 1567) or Sp. igname (Scaliger 1557), iñame, † name, whence F. igname (Thevet 1575); the ultimate origin is uncertain.
The foll. quots. contain unanglicized forms:—
1588Hickock tr. Frederick's Voy. E. Indies 18 A fruite called Inany [It. Ignami]:..lyke to our Turnops, but is verye sweete and good to eate. 1588Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China Comm. xi. 342 These people [sc. of the Philippine Islands] do more esteeme yron than siluer or golde, and gaue for it fruites nnames [Sp. ñames] patatas, fish. 1588in Hakluyt Voy. (1599) II. ii. 129 Their bread is a kind of roots, they call it Inamia, and when it is well sodden I would leaue our bread to eat of it. 1598W. Phillip tr. Linschoten's Voy. i. lv. 99/2 Iniamos were this yeare brought hether out of Guinea, as bigge as a mans legge. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa Descr. Places 52 They haue good sustenance also by meanes of a root, called there Igname, but in the west Indies Batata. 1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. xv. xxix. 1383 This manner of planting this Inhame savoureth something of that of the Manihot or Iucca, wherof the Cassavi is made. 1665Golden Coast 65 The Battatas are..in form almost like Iniamus. 1703Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1460 A sort of Inhame vulgo Yam or Potatoe. 1759tr. Adanson's Voy. Senegal 165 The roots or manioc, igname [Fr.], and batatee multiply greatly in open places. ]
1. The starchy tuberous root of various species of Dioscorea, largely cultivated for food in tropical and subtropical countries, where it takes the place of the potato; also, any plant of the genus Dioscorea (or, by extension, of the N.O. Dioscoreaceæ), comprising twining herbs or shrubs with spikes of small inconspicuous flowers.
With defining words, applied to various species of Dioscorea, and to plants of other genera in some way resembling these. Chinese or Japanese yam, D. Batatas. coco or koko yam = cocco, koko1. common yam, D. sativa. Granada or Guinea yam, D. bulbifera. Indian yam, D. trifida. long yam, of Australia, D. transversa. native yam, a name for Australian species of Ipomœa (N.O. Convolvulaceæ) with edible tubers. red, white, Negro Country, or winged yam, Dioscorea alata. round yam, (a) a species of yam with a round tuber; (b) the Burdekin Vine of Australia, Vitis (Cissus) opaca, with an edible tuberous root. wild yam, Dioscorea villosa of N. America, the root of which is used medicinally, also called colic-root; also applied to two W. Indian climbing shrubs, Rajania pleioneura (N.O. Dioscoreaceæ) and Cissus sicyoides (N.O. Vitaceæ); also to an Australian parasitic orchid (Gastrodia sesamoides) with edible roots, called native potato in Tasmania.
1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 94 Planting provisions of Corn, Yeams, Bonavista, Cassavie. 1659in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1919) July 285 To procure..planton rootes, cassada-sticks, large jamooes, potatoes and bonavist [in Cape Verde Is.]. 1661Hickeringill Jamaica 16 Plentifull produce of Sugar-Canes, Tobacco, Cotten, Maiz.., Potato's, Yames [printed Yarnes]. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1699) 12 Yams, Potatoes and Plantains served us for Bread. 1699Wafer Voy. 101 Yams, of which they have two sorts, a White and a Purple. 1705tr. Bosman's Guinea i. 7 Jammes [orig. F. jammes]. Ibid. ii. 16 Jambs, Potatoes, and other Fruits. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton xiv. (1840) 236 Guams, potatoes. 1729Dampier's Voy. III. 460 Round Yam. From the Root which is white raw, but when boyl'd red... White Yam. Its Root being of that Colour, the Leaves single and cordated. 1756P. Browne Jamaica (1789) 360 The Wild Yam. This plant grows wild in the inland woods of Jamaica. Ibid. 359 The Negro Yam. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 278 The yams, so important a food in all tropical countries, because of their large, fleshy, mucilaginous, sweetish tubers. 1858Hogg Veg. Kingd. 718 The Chinese Yam (D. Batatas), recently introduced to this country as a substitute for the potatoe. 1864Grisebach Flora W. Ind. Isl. 789 Yams, Indian, Dioscorea trifida... Yams, white, Dioscorea alata. Yams, wild, Cissus sicyoides and Rajania pleioneura. 1866Treas. Bot. 411 Yams vary greatly in size and colour..; many attain a length of two or three feet, and weigh from 30 to 40 lbs.; some are white, others purplish throughout, while some have a purple skin with whitish flesh, and others are pink, or even black. 1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 433 White Bockra or Winged Yam (Dioscorea alata, L.).—Square-stemmed climbing plant. The roots of this species afford a much more delicate..food than those of D. sativa. 1889J. H. Maiden Useful Native Pl. Austral. 67 Vistis opaca,..Round Yam.
2. Applied to † (a) the mangrove, of which some species have an edible fruit; (b) varieties of the common potato (Solanum tuberosum), cultivated in Scotland; (c) U.S., a variety of the sweet potato (Batatas edulis).
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. App., Yams,..a name sometimes used for the rhizophora of Linnæus. c1775T. L. Yankee Doodle (song) ii. in N. & Q. 1st Ser. V. 87 Farewell all de yams, and farewell de salt fish. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scot. II. 84 To give them [sc. horses]..a considerable quantity daily of potatoes, especially of the coarse sort, called yams. 1815Pennecuik's Wks. 78 note, There is a demand for the large coarse varieties of potatoe, improperly called yams. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 30 The varieties raised exclusively for cattle are the common yam, red yam, and ox-noble. 1862Whittier At Port Royal, Song of the Negro Boatmen, De yam will grow, de cotton blow, We'll hab de rice an' corn. 1892Kilmarnock Standard 30 July 5/2 The Negro likes his yam.
3. attrib. and Comb., as yam-hill, yam-root; yam-bean, either of two species of leguminous plants, Pachyrrhizus (Dolichos) tuberosus and angulatus, cultivated in the tropics for their pods and tubers, both of which are edible; yam house, a building in which to store yams; yam potato = sense 2 (b); yam-stick, a long stick sharpened at the end, used by Australian natives for digging and as a weapon; yam-stock, a nickname for an inhabitant of St. Helena; yam-vine, (a) a species of yam (Dioscorea bulbifera); (b) the ‘vine’ or climbing stem of the yam-plant.
1864Grisebach Flora W. Ind. Isl. 789 *Yam-bean, Dolichos tuberosus. 1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 321 Yam Bean (Pachyrhizus angulatus), its tubers are like turnips.
1867Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Progr. Cult. Wks. (Bohn) III. 228 Even the races that we still call savage..vindicate their faculty by the skill with which they make their *yam-cloths.
1864–5Wood Homes without H. iii. 85 A *Yam-hill—i.e. a bank of mould prepared for the purpose of growing yams.
1910C. G. Seligmann Melanesians Brit. New Guinea xlix. 672 The number of *yam houses makes each hamlet look larger than it really is. 1949M. Mead Male & Female ix. 190 Among the Trobriand Islanders, each man fills the yam-house of his sister, not that of his wife.
1801Farmer's Mag. Aug. 324 The *yam potatoe.
1829Loudon Encycl. Plants (1836) §2085 The juice of *yam-roots fresh is acrid. 1861Bp. Mackenzie in H. Goodwin Mem. (1864) 349 Huge yam-roots, some weighing fifty pounds.
1863M. K. Beveridge Gatherings 27 One leg's thin as Lierah's *yam-stick.
1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. ii, The blonds of the Baltic, the brunettes of the Mediterranean,..and the fair *yam-stocks of St. Helena.
1792M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 89 The dioscorea bulbifera, or *yam vine. 1894B. Thomson S. Sea Yarns 186, I should soon..see the green yam-vines.
▪ II. † yam, n.2 Obs. rare.
[a. Russ. yam posting stage or house, Pers. yām post-horse.]
A posting house.
1569Turberv. Trag. Tales, etc. (1587) 147 b, If riding poast vpon a trotting Nagge. If homely yammes, in stead of Innes at night [etc.].
1800Asiat. Ann. Reg., Misc. Tracts 236/2 Each night they reached a yam, and each week a city.
▪ III. yam, v. dial.|jæm|
Also nyam.
[Derived through W. Indian from W. African words such as Hausa nama flesh, meat, Swahili nyama meat, Fulah nyama to eat; ult. the same word as yam n.1]
trans. To eat, esp. with relish.
1725New Canting Dict., Yam, to eat heartily, to stuff lustily. 1801T. Dancer Medical Assistant 174 [Dirt-eaters] display as much curiosity and nicety in their choice of the earth they yam, as snuff-takers or smokers in the kind of tobacco they make use of. 1816M. G. Lewis Jrnl. (1834) 256 There's rice in the pot, take it, and yam-yamme. 1841Jamieson Scottish Dict., Nyam, to chew. 1846Swell's Night Guide 136/1 Yam, to eat hearty. 1862W. G. Hamley Captain Clutterbuck's Champagne iv. 68 They purchased the congenial [sugar-cane] plant, and nyaming greedily its fibre, were entranced. 1864Hotten Slang Dict. 273 Yam, to eat. This word is used by the lowest class all over the world; by the Wapping sailor, West India negro, or Chinese coolie. 1905Eng. Dialect Dict. VI. 563/2 Yam, to eat greedily and with noise; to chew. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 125 Yam, to eat.
Also as n.3, food.
1788P. Marsden Acct. Island Jamaica 49 The negroes say, the black parroquets are good for yam, i.e. good to eat. 1828Marly; or Life of Planter in Jamaica (ed. 2) 13 Eh! Mosquitoes hab grandy nyamn on dat new buckra! 1835R. R. Madden Twelvemonths Residence W. Indies I. 188 Him want no nyam, no clothes, no sleep. 1903Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 368/2 Yam (nautical), food. 1953Caribbean Q. III. iii. 176 That was a wicked Jamaican lizard ‘mash up him common-law wife for mout'ful of nyam’.
▪ IV. yam(e
graphic var. þam(e, them: see Y 3. |