From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
barbecue
n 1: meat that has been barbecued or grilled in a highly seasoned
sauce [syn: barbeque]
2: a cookout in which food is cooked over an open fire;
especially a whole animal carcass roasted on a spit [syn:
barbeque]
3: a rack to hold meat for cooking over hot charcoal usually
out of doors [syn: barbeque]
v : cook outdoors on a barbecue grill; "let's barbecue that
meat"; "We cooked out in the forest" [syn: cook out]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barbecue \Bar"be*cue\ (b[aum]"b[-e]*k[=u]), n. [In the language
of the (Arawak or Taino) Indians of Guiana, barbacoa a frame
on which all kinds of flesh and fish are roasted or
smoke-dried.]
1. a framework of metal or brick, usually with a grill on
top, in which a fire is lighted and on which food is
cooked, usually outdoors; -- also called a {barbecue
grill}.
[PJC]
2. A social entertainment, where people assemble, usually in
the open air, at which a meal is prepared on a barbecue
grill.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
3. A floor, on which coffee beans are sun-dried.
[1913 Webster]
4. A hog, ox, or other large animal roasted or broiled whole
for a feast.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barbecue \Bar"be*cue\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Barbecued; p. pr. &
vb. n. Barbecuing.]
1. To dry or cure by exposure on a frame or gridiron.
[1913 Webster]
They use little or no salt, but barbecue their game
and fish in the smoke. --Stedman.
[1913 Webster]
2. To roast or broil whole, as an ox or hog.
[1913 Webster]
Send me, gods, a whole hog barbecued. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]