Definition

1. Noun:

   • A rack or grill for cooking: A framework, often metal, used to hold food (especially meat) for cooking over hot coals or an open flame, typically outdoors.
   • An outdoor social gathering: A cookout or party where food is cooked and eaten outdoors, often featuring grilled or smoked meats.
   • The food itself: Meat or other food that has been cooked using the barbecue method, often with a seasoned sauce.

2. Verb:

   • To cook food outdoors: To prepare food by grilling, smoking, or roasting it over an open fire or hot coals, usually on a rack or spit.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • We need to clean the barbecue before the party. (Referring to the grill or cooking apparatus.)
  • The company is having a barbecue for all employees on Friday. (Referring to the social event.)
  • I love the taste of his homemade barbecue. (Referring to the cooked food, often meat with sauce.)

• Verb:

  • Let's barbecue some chicken and vegetables for dinner tonight.
  • They barbecued the ribs slowly over hickory wood for hours.

Advanced Usage

• "to barbecue something to perfection": to cook something on a barbecue grill until it is exactly right.
  • He knows how to barbecue a steak to perfection.
• As an attributive noun (used like an adjective): Describing things related to this cooking method or event.
  • barbecue sauce, barbecue grill, barbecue party

Variants and Related Words

• BBQ: A common abbreviation for "barbecue."
• Barbecued (adj.): Describes food that has been cooked using this method.
  • barbecued pork
• Barbecuing (gerund/noun): The activity or process of cooking food in this way.
  • Barbecuing is a popular summer activity.

Synonyms

• Grill (verb/noun): To cook on a grill; a device for grilling. (Note: "Grilling" often implies direct, faster heat, while "barbecuing" can imply slower cooking with smoke.)
• Cookout (noun): An informal meal cooked and eaten outdoors.
• Roast (verb): To cook with dry heat, especially in an oven or over a fire. (Can be similar when done over an open fire.)

Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases

(Note: "Barbecue" itself is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. The action is typically expressed simply as "barbecue" or "barbecue something.") - "to have a barbecue": to host or attend a barbecue event. - We're going to have a barbecue this weekend.

Related Idioms

• "Everything but the kitchen sink" (sometimes used humorously in the context of a barbecue to mean a wide variety of foods were cooked).
  • He put everything but the kitchen sink on the barbecue.

Noun

1. a rack to hold meat for cooking over hot charcoal usually out of doors
2. a cookout in which food is cooked over an open fire; especially a whole animal carcass roasted on a spit
3. meat that has been barbecued or grilled in a highly seasoned sauce

Verb

1. cook outdoors on a barbecue grill
   • let's barbecue that meat
   • We cooked out in the forest