English

Marinated beef grilling on a barbecue.

A plate of barbecue (foreground) with sauce, beans and bread.

Alternative forms

• (apparatus; event; meat): barbeque; bar-be-que, bar-b-que (informal forms based on the abbreviation)
• (apparatus; event): barbie (Australia, NZ, UK, informal abbreviation)
• (event; meat): BBQ (informal abbreviation)
• (meat): 'cue, 'que, que (US, informal shortenings)

Noun

barbecue ‎(plural barbecues)

1. A fireplace or pit for grilling food, typically used outdoors and traditionally employing hot charcoal as the heating medium.

   We cooked our food on the barbecue.

2. A meal or event highlighted by food cooked in such an apparatus.

   We're having a barbecue on Saturday, and you're invited.

3. Meat, especially pork or beef, which has been cooked in such an apparatus (i.e. smoked over indirect heat from high-smoke fuels) and then chopped up or shredded.

   She ordered a plate of barbecue with a side of slaw.

4. (dated) A hog, ox, or other large animal roasted or broiled whole for a feast.
5. A floor on which coffee beans are sun-dried.
   • 2000, Andrew Gerald Gravette, Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean, page 227:

     Drying the coffee beans took place in a barbecue, basically a large, flat platform, where the pulped coffee beans could be laid out and turned as they dried. Barbecues were often walled around and raised above ground level.

Synonyms

• (grill): braai (South African English), buccan, compare grill
• (event): braai (South African English), cookout

Derived terms

• barbecue sauce
• barbie

Translations

Verb

barbecue ‎(third-person singular simple present barbecues, present participle barbecuing, simple past and past participle barbecued)

1. To cook food on a barbecue; to smoke it over indirect heat from high-smoke fuels.
2. To grill.

Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑrbəkju/
• Hyphenation: bar‧be‧cue

Etymology

Borrowing from English barbecue.

Noun

barbecue m ‎(plural barbecues, diminutive barbecuetje n)

1. barbecue

Derived terms

• barbecueën/barbecuen

Verb

barbecue

1. first-person singular present indicative of barbecueën
2. imperative of barbecueën
3. first-person singular present indicative of barbecuen
4. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of barbecuen
5. imperative of barbecuen

French

Etymology

Borrowing from English barbecue.

Noun

barbecue m ‎(plural barbecues)

1. barbecue