Forms: 7–9 barbacue, -icu(e, 8 -ikew, 8– barbecue. [f. prec. sb.]
1. To dry or cure (flesh, etc.) by exposure upon a barbecue; see the sb. (senses 1 and 5).
1661. Hickeringill, Jamaica, 76. Some are slain, And their flesh forth with Barbacu’d and eat.
1775. Adair, Amer. Ind., 408. They cut them [pompions] into … slices, which they barbacue, or dry with a slow heat.
1794. Stedman, Surinam (1813), I. xv. 406. They use little or no salt, but barbacue their game and fish in the smoke.
1839. [see BARBECUED 1].
2. To broil or roast (an animal) whole; e.g., to split a hog to the backbone, fill the belly with wine and stuffing, and cook it on a huge gridiron, basting with wine. Sometimes, to cook (a joint) with the same accessories. See also BARBECUE sb. 3.
1690. Mrs. Behn, Widow R., II. iv. 356. Let’s barbicu this fat rogue.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Christi, VII. vi. (1852), 556. When they came to see the bodies of so many of their countrymen terribly barbikew’d.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 111. To barbecue a Leg of Pork.
1823. Lamb, Roast Pig, Elia (1867), 163. Barbecue your whole hogs to your palate.
