a style of cooking meat by applying low heat for a long time, especially over an open fire or in a below-ground pit: the meat is often served shredded or chopped, with tortillas, in burritos, etc.
meat that has been cooked slowly on low heat, especially over an open fire or in a below-ground pit.
an Indigenous people of Ecuador and Colombia.
the language of the Barbacoa.
First recorded in 1945–50; from Spanish; see barbecue ( def. )
First recorded in 1885–90
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Many dishes now elevated to restaurant darling status — barbacoa, ratatouille, pasta e fagioli — were born from exactly those constraints.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
The goat barbacoa tacos are served every Friday and Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
Also a block away from the theater is Aqui Es Texcoco, known for its lamb barbacoa, which even drew the late Times food critic Jonathan Gold two hours south along the 5 Freeway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
“Barbecue” comes from barbacoa, a word in the Arawakan language of the Caribbean for a wooden frame used for sleeping on and for drying food, Tschann writes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2023
If the ground admits of it, which is seldom the case, a pile of stones is built up beneath the barbacoa, extending to at least one half its breadth.
From Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests by Thomasina Ross
Barbacoa is also a specialty at Marcelo’s Tacos.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2020
Barbacoa, specifically South Texas beef-head barbacoa, is a major influence on contemporary Texas barbecue.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 12, 2019
Barbacoa, a form of cooking meat that is popular in central Mexico, is the restaurant’s specialty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2016
Most valuable dish: Barbacoa burrito with rice, fajita veggies, pinto beans, fresh tomato salsa, cheese, guacamole and sour cream.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2016
The fifth day at noon they arrived at a place called Barbacoa, where there were more deserted barricades, and the adjacent plantations were equally bare of either man, animal, or plant.
From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume II (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Walter Thornbury
An ambush had been laid at Barbacoas, but the Spaniards had left the place, after sweeping it as bare as Torna Munni.
From On the Spanish Main Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. by John Masefield
Why may there not be an alluvial auriferous soil to the east of the Cordilleras, as there is to the west, in the Sonoro, at Choco, and at Barbacoas?
From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 2 by Alexander von Humboldt
There were a few huts at Barbacoas, for the place was of some small importance.
From On the Spanish Main Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. by John Masefield
After resting some days in the old capital of Quito, our travellers proceeded to the small port of Barbacoas, on the west coast of Equador; and thence took passage for Panama.
From Bruin The Grand Bear Hunt by Johann Baptist Zwecker
About noon they staggered in to Barbacoas, now a station on the Isthmian Railway.
From On the Spanish Main Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. by John Masefield
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
