noun / verb

barbecue

BAR-bih-kyoo/ˈbɑːrbɪkjuː/

Cooking food over fire or hot coals.

They barbecue vegetables over hot coals in the backyard.

Two men share an outdoor barbecue: a young adult turns food over glowing coals while a middle-aged adult sits at a nearby picnic table with a plate of grilled food, making the outdoor meal—not just the grill—the focus.

Etymology

barbecueArawakanframework of sticks on posts

Barbakoa named a raised wooden framework used for sleeping or curing meat. The cooking framework gave its name to an outdoor feast of roasted food, connecting the apparatus with the social meal.

In context

Mark Wiens0:05

today I have an ultimate Backyard Barbecue home-cooked Southern meal to share with you

Extreme Backyard Barbecue!! 🇺🇸 You’ll ONLY Get This in South Carolina!

More examples

Our neighbors invited us to a weekend barbecue.
He turned the meat carefully on the barbecue.
The restaurant serves smoky barbecue with cornbread.

Forms

barbecue · barbecues · barbecued · barbecuing

Similar words

grill: Often suggests quick cooking directly over strong heat.
roast: Can involve an oven rather than an open cooking fire.