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
Don’t miss some returning favorites, such as the barbacoa tamal de res, in which the beef is pleasantly tender, or the braised pork belly adobo, one of the heartier dishes at the festival.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
The goat barbacoa tacos are served every Friday and Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
“Barbecue” comes from barbacoa, a word in the Arawakan language of the Caribbean for a wooden frame used for sleeping and for drying food, Tschann writes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2023
This arrangement was called by the Taino Indians, a barbacoa from which we get the English equivalent, barbecue.
From Agriculture in Virginia, 1607-1699 by Carrier, Lyman
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 Barbacoa and Pastor have been popular, and for the vegetarian there’s the Verdura, featuring daily fresh vegetables.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 8, 2015
On reaching Barbacoa the division of the spoil began.
From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume II (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Thornbury, Walter
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 Masefield, John
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 Masefield, John
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 Masefield, John
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 Zwecker, Johann Baptist
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 Humboldt, Alexander von
Definitions 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.
