barbecue

American  

[bahr-bi-kyoo] / ˈbɑr bɪˌkyu /

Or barbeque,

noun

1. pieces of meat, fowl, fish, or the like, roasted or smoked over fire, especially when basted in a barbecue sauce.

   The restaurant serves amazing barbecue.

2. a framework, such as a grill or a spit, for cooking meat or vegetables over an open fire.

   Make sure you clean off the barbecue so it's ready to use when we go camping.

3. a meal, usually in the open air and often as a social gathering, at which meats are roasted on a grill or over an open hearth or pit.

4. any social gathering centered around food, especially meat, that is cooked over fire using a grill, spit, smoker, or the like.

   Our weekend barbecue was lively until it started to rain.

5. a dressed steer, lamb, or other animal, roasted whole.

---

verb (used with object)

barbecued, barbecuing

1. to broil, smoke, or roast (meat, fowl, fish, or the like) whole or in large pieces over an open fire, using a spit, grill, smoker, or the like, often seasoning with vinegar, spices, salt, and pepper.

   They barbecued a chicken and some steaks for dinner.

2. to cook (sliced or diced meat, fowl, fish, or the like) in a highly seasoned sauce.

verb (used without object)

barbecued, barbecuing

1. to cook over an open fire using an instrument such as a grill, spit, or smoker, or to host a social gathering where food is cooked in this manner.

   If the weather's nice, we'll barbecue in the backyard.

barbecue British  

/ ˈbɑːbɪˌkjuː /

noun

1. a meal cooked out of doors over an open fire

2. an outdoor party or picnic at which barbecued food is served

3. a grill or fireplace used in barbecuing

4. the food so cooked

---

verb

1. to cook (meat, fish, etc) on a grill, usually over charcoal and often with a highly seasoned sauce

2. to cook (meat, fish, etc) in a highly seasoned sauce

Other Word Forms

• barbecuer noun

Etymology

Origin of barbecue

First recorded in 1655–65; from Spanish barbacoa, from Arawak (perhaps Taíno ) barbacoa “a raised frame of sticks”

Example Sentences

For the marinade, you’ll need Korean barbecue sauce, available at most grocery stores.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Nearby, a man fanned skewers sizzling on a barbecue grill while a couple played badminton and retirees sang cheerfully on a park bench.

From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026

“It was at this tiny theater on Pico near LaBrea, next to a barbecue place,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

The case of best friends Holly and Jessica vanishing after leaving a family barbecue in August 2002 gripped not just the tight-knit community in Soham, but the world.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026

We pulled a load of heavy cans and propane canisters and a welded hibachi barbecue in the trailer cart we’d found out back of the resort, along with Minerva’s share of the camp carry.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

Related Words

• broil
• grill
• sear