Meanings
- CaribbeanGuyanaJamaicapluralplural onlyStarchy staple vegetables grown in the ground such as yam, taro, cassava and sweet potato.
There is little cane grown in St. Mary: most of the cultivation is in fruit and ground provisions.
1890, Edgar Mayhew Bacon, Eugene Murray Aaron, The New Jamaica, New York: Walbridge, page 1743 more examples
In Barbadoes, I doubt whether the corn, (it is Indian corn not wheat) and the ground provisions (I mean yams, and other roots) raised in the island, are sufficient to maintain the inhabitants for three months […]
1775, Richard Glover, The Substance of the Evidence on the Petition Presented by the West-India Planters and Merchants, London, page 40Thirty Arawak Indians were brought to teach the English how to plant cassava, yams, and other ground provisions […]
1912, James Rodway, chapter 2, in Guiana: British, Dutch, and French, London: T. Fisher Unwin, page 59Lydia has made stewed chicken, rice, string beans, and the ground provisions that Mr. Sinclair likes: dasheen, cassava, and sweet potatoes.
2009, Elizabeth Nunez, chapter 7, in Anna In-Between, New York: Akashic Books, pages 82–83Synonyms: ground food
Synonyms & antonyms
nounStarchy staple vegetables grown in the ground such as yam, taro, cassava and sweet potato.
Cite this entry
ground provisions. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ground%20provisions
“ground provisions.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ground%20provisions. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ground provisions,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ground%20provisions.
Source: ground provisions on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.