barbecue pit

[ bahr-bi-kyoo pit ]

noun

1. a specially prepared well or trench in the ground, used for roasting meat on a grill or spit over an open wood or charcoal fire:

   Where this dish was invented, it's cooked in a barbecue pit with whole pork shoulders as the main ingredient.

   We were all standing over the barbecue pit, getting smoke in our eyes.

2. a boxlike structure outdoors or in a restaurant kitchen, etc., having a grill on top or a spit inside for roasting meat over an open wood or charcoal fire:

   After years of experimenting, he perfected a portable barbecue pit that could cook large quantities of meat.

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbecue pit¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

The beach also has volleyball courts, barbecue pits, picnic tables and walking paths.

From Los Angeles Times

A comedian who is producing Galveston’s first ever Juneteenth Comedy Festival on Saturday, he has vivid memories of smoke permeating his entire neighborhood because so many people were using their barbecue pits for celebratory cookouts.

From Seattle Times

The mansion has a long thoroughfare of ferns out front, a pool and a barbecue pit in the back.

From New York Times

Outside the house stands a wood plank smokehouse, flanked by a barbecue pit and pile of rocks.

From Seattle Times

For the 1963 work “Scudorama,” the earliest on the Lincoln Center programs, Katz wanted to “make Paul look like he was straight from the barbecue pit,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Invented Symbols.”

From New York Times