Run rings around barbecue?
I believe the answer is:
outdo
'run' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'rings around barbecue?' is the wordplay.
'rings' becomes 'oo' (multiple circles).
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'barbecue?' becomes 'utd' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'oo' placed around 'utd' is 'OUTDO'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for outdo that I've seen before include "Cap" , "Perform better than, be superior to" , "Surpass someone at something" , "Defeat" , "Perform better than (someone)" .)