cookie

American  

[kook-ee] / ˈkʊk i /

Sometimes cooky

noun

plural

cookies

1. a small, usually round and flat cake, the size of an individual portion, made from stiff, sweetened dough, and baked.

2. Informal. dear; sweetheart (a term of address, usually connoting affection).

3. Slang.

   1. a person, usually of a specified character or type.

      a smart cookie;

      a tough cookie.

   2. an alluring young woman.

4. Also called browser cookie.  Also called http cookie;.  Digital Technology. a file or segment of data that identifies a unique user over time and across interactions with a website, sent by the web server through a browser, stored on a user’s hard drive, and sent back to the server each time the browser requests a web page.

   Your browser will run more efficiently after you clear the cache and cookies.

5. South Atlantic States (chiefly North Carolina). a doughnut.

6. Scot. a bun.

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verb (used with object)

cookied, cookieing, cookying

1. Digital Technology. to assign a cookie or cookies to (a website user).

   I'm not really comfortable being cookied all the time.

idioms

1. toss / spill one's cookies, to vomit.

cookie British  

/ ˈkʊkɪ /

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): biscuit.  a small flat dry sweet or plain cake of many varieties, baked from a dough

2. a Scot word for bun

3. informal a person

   smart cookie

4. computing a piece of data downloaded to a computer by a website, containing details of the preferences of that computer's user which identify the user when revisiting that website

5. informal matters are inevitably or unalterably so

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cookie Scientific  

/ kk′ē /

1. A collection of information, usually including a username and the current date and time, stored on the local computer of a person using the World Wide Web, used chiefly by websites to identify users who have previously registered or visited the site. Cookies are used to relate one computer transaction to a later one.

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cookie More Idioms  

1. see hand in the till (cookie jar); that's how the ball bounces (cookie crumbles); toss one's cookies.

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Etymology

Origin of cookie

First recorded in 1750–55; from Dutch koekie, dialectal variant of koekje, equivalent to koek “biscuit, cake” + -je diminutive suffix; see origin at cake

Explanation

A cookie is a round, sweet baked good that's often eaten with a glass of milk. You might bake three dozen cookies to sell at your swim team's bake sale. In Britain, it's a biscuit, and in the US it's a cookie. In both cases, it's a small cake that's baked on a cookie sheet. Your favorite cookies might be chocolate chip — or maybe you're more of an oatmeal raisin cookie type. When you see cookie in the context of computers, it means a bit of data that's sent from a website to your browser. This type of cookie helps your computer remember passwords and web pages it's visited.

Example Sentences

Times is accepting recipe submissions for its 2025 Holiday Cookie Bake-Off until Monday, Oct.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025

After the speakers and musical performances wrapped, the Miss Piggies and the inflatable eagles, polar bears, frogs, sharks, foxes and at least one Cookie Monster lined up behind the Handmaids and began to march.

From Salon • Nov. 29, 2025

When Cookie Monster appeared behind a DJ booth on the “N” shaped red carpet to sing “‘C’ is for Cookie,” adults in “Squid Game” tracksuits joined in the chorus.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2025

The attack ended when Mr Page and Ratteray, who had chased after Cookie to try to restrain the dog, were able to free Darcy.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2025

Cookie had blond hair and glitter all over her neck.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

Related Words

• biscuit
• wafer