[bahr-bi-kyoo] 
noun, verb, -cued, -cu⋅ing.| 1. | pieces of beef, fowl, fish, or the like, roasted over an open hearth, esp. when basted in a barbecue sauce. |
| 2. | a framework, as a grill or a spit, or a fireplace for cooking meat or vegetables over an open fire. |
| 3. | a dressed steer, lamb, or other animal, roasted whole. |
| 4. | a meal, usually in the open air and often as a political or social gathering, at which meats are roasted over an open hearth or pit. |
| 5. | to broil or roast whole or in large pieces over an open fire, on a spit or grill, often seasoning with vinegar, spices, salt, and pepper. |
| 6. | to cook (sliced or diced meat or fish) in a highly seasoned sauce. |
| 7. | to cook by barbecuing or to entertain at a barbecue: If the weather's nice, we'll barbecue in the backyard. |
| bar·be·cue (bär'bĭ-kyōō') n.
To roast, broil, or grill (meat or seafood) over live coals or an open fire, often basting with a seasoned sauce. [American Spanish barbacoa, of Taino origin.] |
barbecue
an outdoor meal, usually a form of social entertainment, at which meats, fish, or fowl, along with vegetables, are roasted over a wood or charcoal fire. The term also denotes the grill or stone-lined pit for cooking such a meal, or the food itself, particularly the strips of meat. The word "barbecue" came into English via the Spanish, who adopted the term from the Arawak Indians of the Caribbean, to whom the barbacoa was a grating of green wood upon which strips of meat were placed to cook or to dry over a slow fire
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