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• cook
  cook

  verb (used with object)

  to prepare (food) by the use of heat, as by boiling, baking, or roasting.
• Cook
  Cook

  noun

  Frederick Albert, 1865–1940, U.S. physician and polar explorer.

cook

¹ American  

[kook] / kʊk /

verb (used with object)

1. to prepare (food) by the use of heat, as by boiling, baking, or roasting.

2. to subject (anything) to the application of heat.

3. Slang. to ruin; spoil.

4. to process (computer programming code or other digital data) for use in an executable file format.

5. Slang. to falsify, as accounts.

   to cook the expense figures.

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verb (used without object)

1. to prepare food by the use of heat.

2. (of food) to undergo cooking.

3. Slang.

   1. to be full of activity and excitement.

      Las Vegas cooks around the clock.

   2. to perform, work, or do in just the right way and with energy and enthusiasm.

      That new drummer is really cooking tonight. Now you're cooking!

   3. to be in preparation; develop.

      Plans for the new factory have been cooking for several years.

   4. to take place; occur; happen.

      What's cooking at the club?

noun

• cooks
  plural

1. a person who cooks.

   The restaurant hired a new cook.

verb phrase

1. cook up

   1. to concoct or contrive, often dishonestly.

      She hastily cooked up an excuse.

   2. to falsify.

      Someone had obviously cooked up the alibi.

2. cook off (of a shell or cartridge) to explode or fire without being triggered as a result of overheating in the chamber of the weapon.

idioms

1. cook one's goose. goose.

2. cook the books, to manipulate the financial records of a company, organization, etc., so as to conceal profits, avoid taxes, or present a false financial report to stockholders.

cook ² American  

[kook, kook] / kuk, kʊk /

verb (used without object)

Scot.

1. to hide, especially outdoors, as by crouching down behind a hedge.

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Cook ³ American  

[kook] / kʊk /

noun

1. Frederick Albert, 1865–1940, U.S. physician and polar explorer.

2. George Cram 1873–1924, U.S. novelist, dramatist, and poet.

3. Captain James, 1728–79, English navigator and explorer in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans, particularly in the areas of Australia and New Zealand.

4. Sir Joseph, 1860–1947, Australian statesman, born in England: prime minister of Australia 1913–14.

5. Also called Aoraki, Aorangi. Mount Cook, a mountain in New Zealand, on South Island. 12,349 feet (3,764 meters).

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cook ¹ British  

/ kʊk /

verb

1. to prepare (food) by the action of heat, as by boiling, baking, etc, or (of food) to become ready for eating through such a process

2. to subject or be subjected to the action of intense heat

   the town cooked in the sun

3. slang (tr) to alter or falsify (something, esp figures, accounts, etc)

   to cook the books

4. slang (tr) to spoil or ruin (something)

5. slang (intr) to happen (esp in the phrase what's cooking? )

6. slang (tr) to prepare (any of several drugs) by heating

7. slang (intr) music to play vigorously

   the band was cooking

8. informal

   1. to spoil a person's plans

   2. to bring about someone's ruin, downfall, etc

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noun

1. a person who prepares food for eating, esp as an occupation

Cook ² British  

/ kʊk /

noun

1. Captain James . 1728–79, British navigator and explorer: claimed the E coast of Australia for Britain, circumnavigated New Zealand, and discovered several Pacific and Atlantic islands (1768–79)

2. Sir Joseph. 1860–1947, Australian statesman, born in England: prime minister of Australia (1913–14)

3. Peter ( Edward ). 1937–95, British comedy actor and writer, noted esp for his partnership (1960–73) with Dudley Moore

4. Robin, full name Robert Finlayson Cook . 1946–2005, British Labour politician; foreign secretary (1997–2001), Leader of the House (2001-2003)

5. Thomas. 1808–92, British travel agent; innovator of conducted excursions and founder of the travel agents Thomas Cook and Son

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Cook ³ British  

/ kʊk /

noun

1. Official name: Aoraki-Mount Cook. a mountain in New Zealand, in the South Island, in the Southern Alps: the highest peak in New Zealand. Height: reduced in 1991 by a rockfall from 3764 m (12 349 ft) to 3754 m (12 316 ft)

2. a mountain in SE Alaska, in the St Elias Mountains. Height: 4194 m (13 760 ft)

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cook More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing cook

• chief cook and bottlewasher
• short order (cook)
• too many cooks spoil the broth
• what's cooking

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cooking
  noun
• cookable
  adjective
• cookless
  adjective
• uncookable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cooks
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cook¹

First recorded before 1000; (noun) Middle English co(o)ke, Old English cōc (compare Old Norse kokkr, German Koch, Dutch kok ), from Latin cocus, coquus, derivative of coquere “to cook”; akin to Sanskrit pácati “(he) cooks, bakes, roasts,” Slavic ( Polish ) piec “to bake, roast,” Greek péssein, péptein “to boil, cook”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of cook²

First recorded in 1780–90; of uncertain origin

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cook Cook cooks

He knew how to cook, understood substitutions and was perfectly capable of asking a store employee for help.

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

You have to let him cook, your very own basketball anarchist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

"It's not acceptable for classrooms to be dangerous," said Mavroudis, who hopes to become a cook and plans to move elsewhere in Europe to "countries where things are better".

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Here are some recommendations for what to read, watch, and cook this evening that my colleagues are pretty confident won’t fall outside your margin of error:

From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2026

The only sound I heard was the slow hissing of the tea kettle on the cook stove.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Authorities in Cook County, Ill., recovered part of a stolen shipment of Red Bull worth $300,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Cook has said that the AI build-out was her top concern heading into next year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

The probe against Powell was dropped to smooth the way for Warsh's Senate confirmation, but the battle to fire Cook continues despite a Supreme Court decision nullifying an earlier attempt to do so.

From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026

Pool A has four teams - Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands - fighting for two semi-final places in a round-robin format.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Ophie turned to see Cook in the doorway.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

She says she’s now mom’s full-time caregiver: She cooks, manages her medications, drives her to appointments and handles her finances and insurance paperwork.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Japanese cooks are working with a brand-new selection of seafood, since El Nino has altered ocean migratory routes.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

One posting in August by a labor agency in Moscow advertised the services of a team of 40 North Korean women to work as cooks, conveyor-line operators or textile workers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

On that day, Ayala said, his nieces had finished working as cooks at a Thai restaurant around 2 a.m. and decided to go out with two cousins.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

We saw this happen time after time with Dad’s stenographers and with the cooks who followed Mrs. Cunningham.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

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