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noun
1The edible starchy tuber of a climbing plant that is widely grown in tropical and subtropical countries.
‘Trucks selling yams, widely used as a tonic, can be seen along the provincial highway in Nantou County.’- ‘True yams are a starchy tuber that is a staple crop in many parts of the tropics; they are seldom grown in the United States.’
- ‘The tuber from the wing-stalked yam is a valuable source of diosgenin.’
- ‘In many countries, it is cultivated for its starchy tubers, sometimes called air potatoes or Chinese yams.’
- ‘Oh, and they replaced knowledgable produce staff with people who couldn't tell me the difference between a sweet potato and a yam.’
- ‘Some yams produce many small tubers, no larger than potatoes.’
- ‘And the vegetables began where the pawpaw ended: yams, potatoes, onions, garlic.’
- ‘To escape the fighting, his family fled from their village on the coast to live in the interior where they survived on wild yams, opossums and edible ferns.’
- ‘Forest crops, such as plantain, cassava, cocoyam, and tropical yams, predominate in the south.’
- ‘The bacon wrapping permeated the meat beautifully, and the rich wine peppercorn sauce, yams, broccoli and potato were fine accompaniments.’
- ‘Truth be told, yams are an entirely different vegetable - one grown in Africa and Asia - that has absolutely no relation to sweet potatoes.’
- ‘Although the terms are often used interchangeably, a true yam and a sweet potato not only belong to different families, but they also stem from different continents.’
- ‘These exotic products include lychees, fresh coriander, orca, pak choi, fresh curry leaves and unusual vegetables such as yams, daikon and bitter gourd.’
- ‘Meanwhile, Jamaican cuisine in general has been getting lighter and more healthful, relying less on coconut oil and starchy yams, cassava, and breadfruit.’
- ‘In Côte d' Ivoire, grains such as millet, maize, and rice and tubers such as yams and cassava make up most meals.’
- ‘‘APPALAMS’, RICE, eggs, potatoes, yams, bottle guards and tamarind are not only edibles.’
- ‘As Lihirian women were not participants in traditional exchanges, the model they work with is that of the male lineage or clan leader who is the organiser at feasts and takes on the main role of distributor of pigs and yams.’
- ‘In Kitava, food staples included cultivated tubers (e.g., yams, sweet potatoes, taro); less fish was consumed in Kitava than in Atafu.’
- ‘The traditional Polynesian foodstuffs of taro (a starchy root), yams, and breadfruit were not well adapted for cultivation on the temperate islands of New Zealand.’
- ‘I have to contend with Thai-roasted pheasant with sweet yams and shitake mushrooms, balanced precariously on a writhing pepper and black bean sauce.’
2The cultivated plant that yields the yam.
Genus Dioscorea, family Dioscoreaceae: many species
‘Men clear the bush and plant the yams with the help of the women and the children.’- ‘They also grow taro and yams, bananas, ginger, tobacco and colorful cucumbers.’
- ‘In certain regions corn, rice, groundnuts, vegetables, and yams are cultivated.’
- ‘Wives help their husbands plant yams and harvest corn, beans, and cotton.’
- ‘Other agricultural products include bananas, coconuts, yams, and sugar cane.’
- ‘Interviews with villagers who have gardens in the same areas but do not report smaller yams or poor crops yielded another interpretation.’
- ‘Betel nuts, coconuts, rice, yams and the xylophone stretch right across west Africa, but had Indonesian origins.’
- ‘Some 2,000 years ago, crops such as bananas, yams, rice, and coconuts reached east Africa from southeast Asia.’
- ‘While the country's fertile highlands yield staple foods like yams and cereal grains, the semi-arid lowlands are largely rocky.’
- ‘Most people support themselves through subsistence farming, growing rice, yams, cassava, bananas, and palm oil nuts.’
- ‘Traditional rural staples are sweet potatoes, manioc, yams, corn, rice, pigeon peas, cowpeas, bread, and coffee.’
- ‘The fertile soil of the valleys produces a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including citrus, sugarcane, watermelons, bananas, yams, and beans.’
- ‘They grow wet rice and dry-field crops (cassava, corn, yams, peanuts, and soybeans).’
- ‘The staple food is the sweet potato, introduced from Indonesia about 300 years ago; other crops are yams, bananas, taro, sugar cane and greens of various kinds.’
- ‘They also grow corn, yams, millet, sorghum, beans, wheat, buckwheat, fruit, cotton, tobacco, peanuts, sun-flowers, and other crops.’
- ‘Niueans cultivate both root crops such as talo, yams, and tapioca, and tree crops such as coconut, breadfruit, papaya, and mango, as well as bananas.’
- ‘Average life expectancy is 54; malaria, yellow fever and other diseases are rampant; and much of the population is engaged in subsistence farming of rice, yams and bananas.’
- ‘Their gardens yielded arrow-root, beans, cassava, cucumbers, melons, maize, and yams; for fruit they cultivated the guava, mammee, papaw and star-apple.’
- ‘Within the Eurasian-African trading system, some plants and animals had been moved from their native ranges during ancient and classical times (horses, yams, bananas, rice).’
- ‘After the Week of Peace, Okonkwo and his family prepared their fields and planted their yams.’
- ‘A severe drought killed the first four hundred yams that he had planted from his own stores of a small crop the previous year.’
- ‘This is where Governor Arthur Phillip planted his big yams, creating Australia's first veggie patch 200 years ago.’
3North American A sweet potato.
‘These days you can just about guarantee that any yams you see in your grocery store are really sweet potatoes.’- ‘The vegetables generally sold as yams in supermarkets here are moist, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, such as the red skinned Garnet and the brown-skinned Jewel.’
- ‘Trade your spuds in for Japanese sweet potatoes, Jersey Sweets (also called white sweet potatoes) or red garnets or jewel yams, which provide more nutritional bang for your buck.’
- ‘Rural villages on high islands are located within a short distance of both the sea and extensive family gardens devoted to taro, yam, sweet potato, or cassava cultivation.’
- ‘Eat a variety of rice, brown rice, oatmeal, barley, yams, potatoes and pastas.’
- ‘Low-glycemic carbs include oatmeal, buckwheat noodles, buckwheat pancakes, red potatoes, yams, cherries and oranges.’
- ‘The remainder should come mostly from complex-carbohydrate foods, such as brown rice, yams, oatmeal, vegetables and high-fiber fruits.’
- ‘Although the focus is on protein, don't neglect carbs, particularly complex sources such as potatoes, yams, rice and vegetables.’
- ‘On this diet, the bulk of my carbs should come from oats, brown rice and yams.’
- ‘Instead, choose slower-burning carbs, such as red potatoes, yams, brown rice, pasta and buckwheat noodles.’
- ‘Try foods that contain vitamin A and beta carotene, such as carrots, yams and cantaloupe.’
- ‘And while yams are dry and starchy and can make a good chip, they contain little to no beta-carotene or vitamin A, and so are less nutritious.’
- ‘Instead, it had roasted beets, zucchini, onions, yams and red peppers, with mustard and romano cheese, on a high-quality baguette.’
- ‘The same goes for bags of Trader Joe's Diced Harvest Medley (turnips, yams, and butternut squash) or other chains' cut-and-ready-to-cook vegetables.’
- ‘Broccoli spears, zucchini, asparagus, white onion, red peppers and yams hiding beneath paperweight layers of golden batter are like presents waiting to be unwrapped, bite by delicious bite.’
- ‘The Pilgrims dined on heaps of freshly killed turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, radishes, apple pie, and a multitude of other treats on sturdy, rugged tables built especially for the occasion.’
- ‘For the lobster noodles: In a food processor combine the lobster meat, egg white, potato starch, and yam.’
- ‘They occur naturally in such foods as dark-green leafy vegetables and orange, yellow, and red foods, such as yams and carrots.’
- ‘Fiber - found in veggies, fruit, beans, oats, and in the skin of yams and potatoes - can dramatically slow the delivery of carbs into the bloodstream.’
- ‘Foods like yams and cantaloupe that tend to be high in beta-carotene are other beneficial additions to your diet.’
- ‘Excellent carb sources include fruit, vegetables and complex, slow-burning foods such as oatmeal, yams, potatoes and brown rice.’
- ‘By eating a range of other complex carbs, such as yams, oatmeal, potatoes, pasta and whole-grain breads, you will still be covering your bases.’
- ‘Instead of having one portion each of yams, potatoes and stuffing - have an extra slice of turkey.’
- ‘Foods high in beta-carotene: these include yellow-orange vegetables such as carrots, yams, squash, pumpkin, paprika, cayenne pepper and turnips.’
Origin
Late 16th century from Portuguese inhame or obsolete Spanish iñame, probably of West African origin.
verb
[no object]Irish, Scottish(of a cat) miaow.
‘a cat slips up the driveway, yamming and trying to talk’- ‘Two cats took up station outside my window and the pair of them went on yamming the whole night.’
- ‘In the most still minute of the night, you wake and wonder: was that a cat yamming?’
- ‘The kitten looked up at her and yammed.’
- ‘His wee cat jumped on his bed and batted him on the head and yammed till he got up.’
- ‘My cat will cry for hours, yamming and yowling.’
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