what's cooking

Idioms  

1. Also, what's new (with you); what's up; what gives. What's going on, what is happening, as in What's cooking at the office these days? or What's new at your house? or Why are all those cars honking their horns? What's up? or Are you really going to France next week? What gives? The first expression, slang from about 1940, transfers the process of preparing food to other processes. The first variant, a version of “what news are there,” dates from the same period and was given added currency by a popular film and song, What's New, Pussycat? (1965); the title itself became an idiom for a time, what's new, pussycat? The second variant, a colloquialism from the first half of the 1900s, gained currency in the 1940s from Bugs Bunny cartoons in which the rabbit repeatedly says “What's up, Doc?” The last variant, what gives, may derive from the German equivalent, Was gibt's? Slang from about 1940, it is also used to mean “how are you,” as in Hello Jack—what gives? Also see what's with.

---

Example Sentences

What's Cooking America notes that balsamic was said to have been used in the Middle Ages as a disinfectant and a "miracle cure," which reportedly helped to ease sore throats and labor pains.

From Salon

As Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir wrote in "What's Cooking America: The History of Eggnog," people didn't usually consume straight glasses of milk.

From Salon

Read below for what’s cooking this week.

From Fox News

Rossdale, 54, revealed during an episode of the cooking vlog "What's Cooking" that his 11-year-old son managed to break both of his arms within six weeks of one another.

From Fox News

An entry in the 1959 Diccionario de Mejicanismos phrasebook defined chili con carne as a “detestable food passing itself off as Mexican, sold in the U.S. from Texas to New York,” according to What’s Cooking America.

From Fox News

Related Words

• picture
• plan
• project
• recipe
• scheme
• setup
• story