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cook

(kk)

v. cooked, cook·ing, cooks

v.tr.

1. To prepare (food) for eating by applying heat.

2. To prepare or treat by heating: slowly cooked the medicinal mixture.

3. Slang To alter or falsify so as to make a more favorable impression; doctor: disreputable accountants who were paid to cook the firm's books.

v.intr.

1. To prepare food for eating by applying heat.

2. To undergo application of heat especially for the purpose of later ingestion.

3. Slang To happen, develop, or take place: What's cooking in town?

4. Slang To proceed or perform very well: The band really got cooking after midnight.

A person who prepares food for eating.

Phrasal Verb:

cook up Informal

To fabricate; concoct: cook up an excuse.

Idiom:

cook (one's) goose Slang

To ruin one's chances: The speeding ticket cooked his goose with his father. Her goose was cooked when she was caught cheating on the test.

[Middle English coken, from coke, cook, from Old English cōc, from Vulgar Latin *cōcus, from Latin cocus, coquus, from coquere, to cook; see pek^w- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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