cook the books

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Falsify a company's financial records, as in An independent audit showed that they've been cooking the books for years. This slangy phrase was first recorded in 1636.

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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Words nearby cook the books

Cookson, Cook's tour, cookstove, Cookstown, Cook Strait, cook the books, cooktop, Cooktown orchid, cook up, cookware, cook with gas

How to use cook the books in a sentence

In his view, a writer has only one duty: to be present in his books.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
France 24 is providing live, round-the-clock coverage of both scenes as they progress.
LIVE Coverage of the Paris Terror Attacks||January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
This is even more striking in Submission than in his previous books.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
We do see that a few European countries have them on the books: Germany, Poland, Italy, Ireland, a couple more.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Isolated lesbians learned that there were other women like them via books whose covers aimed to titillate heterosexual men.
How Pulp Fiction Saved Literature|Wendy Smith|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
She did not need a great cook-book; She knew how much and what it took To make things good and sweet and light.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
Sleek finds it far harder work than fortune-making; but he pursues his Will-o'-the-Wisp with untiring energy.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
They will carry out the dictum of Carlyle that the modern university is a university of books.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The camp grew still, except for the rough and ready cook pottering about the fire, boiling buffalo-meat and mixing biscuit-dough.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
Peter Elmsly, a partner of the celebrated Paul Valliant, and himself an importer of books and no mean critic and linguist, died.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell