barbecue

barbecue [West Indian or South American], in the United States, traditionally an open-air gathering, political or social, in which meats are roasted whole over a pit of embers and food and drink are liberally enjoyed. The term barbecue also refers to the meat being roasted. In the modern barbecue smaller cuts of meat are dipped in or basted with a highly seasoned sauce. The type of meat and style of sauces reflect regional tastes. For example, in the United States, pork with a vinegar-based sauce is favored in the South, and highly spiced beef barbecue predominates in the Southwest. The term "barbecue" was adopted by the Spanish from barbacoa, which the Arawak of the Caribbean used to designate a wood grill on which meat was cooked.

bar·be·cue / ˈbärbiˌkyoō/ • n. a meal or gathering at which meat, fish, or other food is cooked out of doors on a rack over an open fire or on a portable grill. ∎  a portable grill used for the preparation of food at a barbecue, or a brick fireplace containing a grill. ∎  food cooked in such a way. • v. (-cued , -cu·ing ) [tr.] cook (meat, fish, or other food) on a barbecue: fish barbecued with herbs [as adj.] (barbecued) barbecued chicken. ORIGIN: mid 17th cent.: from Spanish barbacoa, perhaps from Arawak barbacoa ‘wooden frame on posts.’ The original sense was ‘wooden framework for sleeping on, or for storing meat or fish to be dried.’

barbecue XVII (earliest sense †‘wooden frame-work on which to sleep or to smoke a carcass’). — Sp. barbacoa — an indigenous word of the Caribbean area.