v. To broil over live coals; n., a feast on what is barbecued. There is a river in North Carolina of this name, and near it a (Presbyterian) “Barbacue Church” was built, about, 1765: W. H. Foote, ‘Sketches of North Carolina,’ p. 133 (N.Y., 1846).
1690. Let’s barbicu this fat rogue.—Mrs. Behn. (N.E.D.)
1705. They have two ways of Broyling, viz. one by laying the Meat itself upon the Coals, the other by laying it upon Sticks rais’d upon Forks at some distance above the live Coals, which heats more gently, and drys up the Gravy; this they [the Indians], and we also from them, call Barbacueing.—Beverley, ‘Virginia,’ iii. 12.
1732.
| Oldfield, with more than Harpy throat endued, | |
| Cries, “Send me, Gods! a whole hog barbecued!” | |
Pope, ‘Imitations of Horace,’ Satire II. 25–6. |
1775. The cassine is used as a drink. They barbacue or toast the leaves and make a strong decoction of them.—B. Romans, ‘Florida,’ p. 93.
1796. [The Virginians] are extremely fond of an entertainment which they call a barbacue. It consists in a large party meeting together, either under some trees, or in a house, to partake of a sturgeon or pig roasted in the open air, on a sort of hurdle, over a slow fire.—Isaac Weld, ‘Travels through North America,’ p. 107 (Lond., 1799).
1799. An elephant of four years old, barbecued at a fire of sanders and aloes wood.—The Aurora, March 11 (Phila.).
1812. Instances of ferocious valour, which will give them popularity, and save the expense of Barbecues and Whiskey.—Boston Gazette, Dec. 7.
1816. A more genteel festival is the barbecue, expensive and elegant; where a numerous party of ladies and gentlemen assembled by invitation, or ticket, and feast, and dance, in beautiful decorum, under an artificial arbour.—Henry C. Knight (‘Arthur Singleton’), ‘Letters from the South and West,’ p. 66 (Boston, 1824).
1817. The farmers occasionally give what they call “a barbique” in the woods…. The hog is killed, dressed, and roasted after the Indian method; this consists in digging a hole, the bottom of which they cover with hot stones; on these the hog is laid, and covered over also with heated stones.—John Bradbury, ‘Travels,’ p. 290 n. (Italics in the original.)
1823. A barbecued hog in the woods, and plenty of whiskey, will buy birthrights and secure elections, even in America.—W. Faux, ‘Memorable Days in America,’ pp. 91–2 (Lond.).
1824. She had barbacued a pair of fine fat quails for her husband’s supper.—Mass. Spy, April 21, from the Trenton Emporium.
1825. Believing the evacuation itself [of New York], to be a genuine Yankee trick, which was to end “right away,” in their being roasted alive, or barbecued.—John Neal, ‘Brother Jonathan,’ iii. 137.
1826. A free Barbecue and Dance will be given at Frankfort, Ky.—Mass. Spy, Oct. 4.
1829. The bodies [of rats in the West Indies] are neatly dressed and barbecued, and carried to the market-place, where they sell readily at the rate of two or three for a bit, or twelve and a half cents of our money.—Mass. Spy, April 15, from the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph.
1833. You surprise me, Mr. Fennimore; no taste for a barbecue! Well, that shows you were not raised in Virginia. Time you should see a little of the world, sir; there ’s nothing in life equal to a barbecue, properly managed,—a good old Virginia barbecue. Sir, I would not have you to miss it for the best horse on my plantation!—James Hall, ‘The Harpe’s Head,’ p. 22 (Phila.).
1843. A barbecue is well described in B. R. Hall’s (‘Robert Carlton’) ‘The New Purchase,’ chap. lxiii. (ii. 285).
1852. On one hand you see rising the smokes of a barbacue; a steer is about to be roasted entire above a huge pit, over which, by means of a stake, he hangs suspended.—‘As Good as a Comedy,’ p. 47 (Phila.).
