A variety of sweet-potato, generally squat and brown, though some varieties are a reddy pink. They are a traditional staple in many parts of Africa. They are supposedly delicious when baked with a hint of brown sugar.

Personally I find them to be disgusting. I chose this handle with the same careful degree of consideration that I chose my other handle, Happyfish, which is to say, it popped unbidden in to my empty, empty mind. Everything is to blame for this too; it wouldn't let me register Happyfish despite there being neither a user nor a node of the same name. I can only assume that there exists a vast conspiracy involving blockstackers, myself, and an enormous vat of yeast. (I'd explain, but surely the inductive reasoning involved is too complex for human comprehension. It certainly evades mine.) I can only hope that in choosing Yam I have in some small way contributed to the demise of this foul plot. Or to its success. Either way would be cool with me.

to yam

To eat or stuff heartily.

The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Yam (?), n. [Pg. inhame, probably from some native name.] Bot.

A large, esculent, farinaceous tuber of various climbing plants of the genus Dioscorea; also, the plants themselves. Mostly natives of warm climates. The plants have netted-veined, petioled leaves, and pods with three broad wings. The commonest species is D. sativa, but several others are cultivated.

Chinese yam, a plant (Dioscorea Batatas) with a long and slender tuber, hardier than most of the other species. -- Wild yam. (a) A common plant (Dioscorea villosa) of the Eastern United States, having a hard and knotty rootstock. (b) An orchidaceous plant (Gastrodia sesamoides) of Australia and Tasmania.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Yam, n. (Bot.)

Any one of several cultural varieties of the sweet potato. [U. S.]

 

© Webster 1913