Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To prepare (food) for eating by applying heat.
  • intransitive verb To prepare or treat by heating.
  • intransitive verb Slang To alter or falsify so as to make a more favorable impression; doctor.
  • intransitive verb To prepare food for eating by applying heat.
  • intransitive verb To undergo application of heat especially for the purpose of later ingestion.
  • intransitive verb Slang To happen, develop, or take place.
  • intransitive verb Slang To proceed or perform very well.
  • noun A person who prepares food for eating.
  • idiom (cook (one's) goose) To ruin one's chances.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make fit for eating by the action of heat, as in boiling, stewing, roasting, baking, etc.; especially, to prepare in an appetizing way, as meats or vegetables, by various combinations of materials and flavoring.
  • Hence In general, to subject to the action of heat.
  • To dress up, alter, color, concoct, or falsely invent (a narrative, statement, excuse, etc.), for some special purpose, as that of making a more favorable impression than the facts of the case warrant; falsify: often followed by up: as, to cook up a story.
  • To disappoint; punish. Brockett. [Prov. Eng.]—To cook one's goose, to kill or ruin one; spoil ones plan; do for one.
  • To prepare food for eating; act as cook.
  • In tobacco manufacturing, to overheat (tobacco) in the process of sweating in bulk, depriving it of the power of heating up again. This happens when the temperature is kept long at 65° F. or raised still higher.
  • Same as cuck.
  • noun One whose occupation is the cooking of food.
  • To appear for a moment and then suddenly disappear; appear and disappear by turns: as, he cookit round the corner.
  • To make the noise uttered by the cuckoo.
  • noun Same as cook-fish.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To prepare food for the table.
  • intransitive verb Obs. or R. To make the noise of the cuckoo.
  • transitive verb Prov.Eng. To throw.
  • noun One whose occupation is to prepare food for the table; one who dresses or cooks meat or vegetables for eating.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A fish, the European striped wrasse.
  • transitive verb To prepare, as food, by boiling, roasting, baking, broiling, etc.; to make suitable for eating, by the agency of fire or heat.
  • transitive verb colloq. To concoct or prepare; hence, to tamper with or alter; to garble; -- often with up.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To prepare (food) for eating by heating it, often by combining it with other ingredients.
  • verb intransitive To prepare (unspecified) food for eating by heating it, often by combining it with other ingredients.
  • verb intransitive To be being cooked.
  • verb intransitive, figuratively To be uncomfortably hot.
  • verb transitive, slang To hold onto (a grenade) briefly after igniting the fuse, so that it explodes almost immediately after being thrown.
  • noun cooking A person who prepares food for a living.
  • noun cooking The head cook of a manor house

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb prepare for eating by applying heat
  • verb transform and make suitable for consumption by heating
  • verb tamper, with the purpose of deception
  • verb prepare a hot meal
  • verb transform by heating
  • noun English navigator who claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain and discovered several Pacific islands (1728-1779)
  • noun someone who cooks food

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English coken, from coke, cook, from Old English cōc, from Vulgar Latin *cōcus, from Latin cocus, coquus, from coquere, to cook; see pekw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English coken, from Old English *cōcian ("to cook") (compare Old English ġecōcsian ("to cook, roast"), ġecōcnian ("to season food")), from Proto-Germanic *kokōnan (“to cook”), from Latin coquō ("cook", v), from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognate with Dutch koken ("to cook"), German kochen ("to cook, boil"), Swedish koka ("to boil, cook"), Old English āfiġen ("fried").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English cōc ("a cook"), from Proto-Germanic *kukaz (“cook”), from Latin coquus ("cook"), from coquō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognate with Low German kokk ("cook"), Dutch kok ("cook"), German Koch ("cook"), Danish kok ("cook"), Swedish kock ("cook"), Icelandic kokkur ("cook"), Albanian kuq ("to fry, cook").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cook.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • WeirdNet #2 and #4 are identical, for some reason.

    November 30, 2008