cookie

American  

[kook-ee] / ˈkʊk i /

Sometimes cooky

noun

• cookies
  plural

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, 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.

---

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

---

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.

---

cookie More Idioms  

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cookies
  plural

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

See Examples For:

cookie cookies cookied

That promise is on unusually vivid display in “Cookie Queens,” Alysa Nahmias’ new documentary about four Girl Scouts attempting to become top cookie sellers during the organization’s brief annual sales season.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

About the size of a cookie, each array contains eight quartz corner cube prisms mounted inside a dome shaped aluminum frame.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

The group does not sell direct to consumers but provides cocoa and chocolate preparations to major firms around the world, including Hershey, Mondelez and Nestlé as well as cake, cookie and ice cream makers.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

And by the end of my night, strangers were socializing, showing off their painted cookie creations, sharing Banksy tidbits and asking for recommendations on various vinaigrette combinations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

Mr. MacPherson pulled a herring-flavored cookie out of a box.

From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness

Baker Diane Bustos said her company now sells seven types of ube cookies.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

He’s also brought cookies and bottles of water to houses to liven things up.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

Demand for cottage cheese is also up, partly driven by social media influencers touting its versatility in recipes for pizza, cookies, gnocchi and french toast, among others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Danni explained to Hollywood and fellow judge Nigella Lawson that they were vegan so could not try their own cinnamon "Snickerdoodle" cookies, topped with peanut brittle.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

But on the day when Twitch stopped in with a batch of shortbread cookies after everyone else had already arrived, something small but significant happened.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

Vonetta must have heard Uncle’s name and came out into the living room, her hands and lips all cookied up.

From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Related Words

• biscuit
• wafer