cook up

British  

verb

1. informal to concoct or invent (a story, alibi, etc)

2. to prepare (a meal), esp quickly

3. slang to prepare (a drug) for use by heating, as by dissolving heroin in a spoon

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noun

1. (in the Caribbean) a dish consisting of mixed meats, rice, shrimps, and sometimes vegetables

cook up Idioms  

1. Fabricate, concoct, as in She's always cooking up some excuse. [Colloquial; mid-1700s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cook up

It takes Gillaspia, who is known for his videos on running and baking sourdough bread, about 30-45 minutes to cook up a batch of the ground beef and white rice mixture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

To do so, I stay away from bistros in fancy neighborhoods, which charge too much and often cook up mediocre food.

From Barron's ● Mar. 8, 2026

Madhusudhan says that does nothing to disprove his hypothesis; comets are known to be little laboratories that can cook up all sorts of unlikely things.

From Salon ● May 31, 2025

No matter how you dress them, whatever complicated motivations and methodologies you cook up, they’re all cut from the same pattern.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2024

Right here and now I am going to cook up a feast and eat until I drop and then I’ll be careful.

From "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen