barbecue
n. countablen. a meal or party where you cook food outdoors over an open fire or hot coals. It also refers to the metal frame or machine you use to cook the food.
n. an outdoor social gathering where food is cooked over an open flame or charcoal; also refers to the apparatus used for such cooking.
We are having a barbecue in the garden this Sunday.
The family bought a new gas barbecue to use for their annual summer neighborhood party.
While some purists insist that a true barbecue requires slow-cooking meat over wood smoke for hours, most people use the term for any quick outdoor grilling session.
From mid-17th century. Borrowed from Spanish barbacoa, from Taíno barbakoa (“framework of sticks”), the raised wooden structure the natives used to either sleep on or cure meat. Originally “meal of roasted meat or fish”. Doublet of balbacua and barbacoa.
Often used as a modifier before other nouns, such as 'barbecue sauce' or 'barbecue ribs'.