Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to bring bad luck.

1887		W. Black Sabina Zembra II 141: Every mortal thing has gone against me [...] I seem to Jonah everything I touch .
1888		World (N.Y.) 28 Aug. 3/4: It is a well-known fact that a cross-eyed man will Jonah the squarest ballgame that was ever played.
1890		World (N.Y.) 13 June 7/4: The next one that Jonahs the Brooklyns will be tarred and feathered and conveyed outside the gates astraddle of a bat.
1901		Monroe & Northup ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:iii 142: Jonah, v. ‘There is of course no one to blame, as all were caused by accident; but it does seem as though we were Jonahed by something.’.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 21: Are we jonah’d or something?
1959		D. Hewett Bobbin Up (1961) 24: Don’t go jonahing me now.

2. (US black) to trick, to swindle.

1968

J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 329: She’d been through all those experiences endemic to the life, been ‘Jonah’ed,’ played-on, ‘Georgia’d’.