Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. W.I.) to eat.

1793		J.B. Moreton West India Customs and Manners 117: Me quite sorry mamma, Ise went in a bush to-day to do my -------, and Yellow Legs come, and he knaum my ----, and him puke.
1812		Montgomery; or, The West Indian Adventurer II 91: Go n’yam with them.
1873		C. Rampini Letters from Jamaica 165: Hope me may lib, fo nyam smo’ (to eat some more) to-marrow.
1894		T. Banbury Jamaica Superstitions 41: You po fe meat, you nyam jungo.
1902		J. Speirs Proverbs of British Guiana 10: Alligatah nyam crapaud fo’ belly full, an’ duck fo’ sweet mout’.
1907		‘Annancy and Brother Tiger’ in W. Jekyll Jam. Song and Story 7: Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.
1912		C. McKay ‘Flat-Foot Drill’ Constab Ballads 13: Fabour say you pick up nong, / Sence you nyamin’ Depôt fat.
1922		(con. late 19C) A. Gonzales Black Border 33: ’E say suh him binnuh nyam de pyo’ cawn hom’ny.
1929		M. Beckwith Jamaica Proverbs (1970) 18: Because parrot mek noise, dem say a him one nyam banana.
1942		L. Bennett ‘Wat A Dicans’ in Jam. Dialect Poems 46: No cry Miss Lou, we nyam de lime.
1942		L. Bennett ‘Cheap Fare Day’ in Jamaica Dialect Verses 14: For ’ow yuh see me jus’ dun nyam, / An’ favah roasen bull.
1950		Bennett, Clarke & Wilson Anancy Stories and Dialect Verse 23: Him nyam aff de whole a de cane dem.
1966		L. Bennett Auntie Roachy Sey (2003) 150: If yuh no tie bad dog strong, him get weh den go nyam yuh supper.
1979		T. Rhone Gloss. in Old Story Time (1981) n.p.: nyam: eat.
1983		V. Bloom ‘Easta Bun’ in Touch Mi, Tell Mi 35: De bun dem still di deh / A wait fi a brave smaddy nyam dem.
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 86: We can link up an nyam somting.
2006		‘Robbo Ranks’ on 1Xtra 28 Apr. [BBC radio] Take your Grammy and nyam it.
2012		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011 8: NOM — eat.
2022		Digga D. ‘Pump 101’ 🎵 Why for Five Guys? Mi nuh nyam Five Guys.

2. (orig. W.I.) to taste.

1951

‘Linstead Market’ in T. Murray Folk Songs of Jamaica 21: Rice and ackee nyam gran’.

3. (UK black) in fig. use, to attack, to arrest.

1971		T. Rhone Smile Orange Act II: As soon as something goes wrong, a little slip-up, we start nyam up each other.
1984		Smiley Culture ‘Cockney Translation’ 🎵 Say we get nyam while cockney get capture.
2002		Observer 10 Mar. 13: Mans there know they can’t make a load of money and then go hang around in the same corners that they used to because people ar gonna wanna nyam you for that.