Definition of "yam-stick" []

• A stick used by many primitive peoples, such as the natives of Australia, for digging roots. Also called digging-stick. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "She immediately lifted up her yam-stick in the position the men throw their spears, and prepared to defend herself, until at last she quieted down on observing the fish-hook, and advanced a step or two and took it from me, evidently knowing the use of it."
• "When the little girls are first taken out by their mothers they are instructed in the use of the yam-stick, with which the roots are dug up out of the earth."
• "But the unfortunate wife occasionally makes the acquaintance of the heavy yam-stick in a very unpleasant, not to say serious, manner."