Dictionary Home » Dictionary Definitions » cook

cook

Listen See in Thesaurus See in a sentence

To cook is to prepare food or to heat food so that it is safe to eat.

(verb)

When you make dinner, this is an example of cook.

The definition of a cook is a person who prepares food professionally for a living.

(noun)

A chef in a restaurant who prepares food for a living is an example of a cook.

See cook in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a person who prepares food for eating

Origin: ME cok < OE coc < VL cocus < L coquus < coquere, to cook < IE base *pekw-, to cook > Gr peptein, Sans pácate, (he) cooks, OE afigen, fried

transitive verb

to prepare (food) for eating by subjecting to heat, as by boiling, baking, frying, etc.
to subject to heat or to some treatment suggestive of a heating process
to tamper with; falsify
Slang to spoil; ruin

Origin: ME coken < the n.

intransitive verb

to act or serve as a cook
to undergo the process of being cooked
Jazz to play, esp. to improvise, in an inspired and rhythmically exciting way

Cook, James 1728-79; Eng. naval officer & explorer: explored Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, etc.

mountain of the Southern Alps, New Zealand: highest peak in New Zealand: 12,349 ft (3,764 m)

See cook in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb cooked, cook·ing, cooks

verb, transitive

To prepare (food) for eating by applying heat.
To prepare or treat by heating: slowly cooked the medicinal mixture.
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.

verb, intransitive

To prepare food for eating by applying heat.
To undergo application of heat especially for the purpose of later ingestion.
Slang To happen, develop, or take place: What's cooking in town?
Slang To proceed or perform very well: The band really got cooking after midnight.

noun

A person who prepares food for eating.

Phrasal Verb: cook up Informal To fabricate; concoct: cook up an excuse.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English coken

Origin: , from coke, cook

Origin: , from Old English cōc

Origin: , from Vulgar Latin *cōcus

Origin: , from Latin cocus, coquus

Origin: , from coquere, to cook; see pek^w- in Indo-European roots

American physician and Arctic explorer who announced that he had reached the North Pole in 1908, a claim that was rejected by the scientific community.

, James Known as “Captain Cook.” 1728-1779.

British navigator and explorer who commanded three major voyages of discovery, charting and naming many islands of the Pacific Ocean. He also sailed along the coast of North America as far north as the Bering Strait.

, Mount

also A·o·rang·i (äˌō-rängˈgē) The highest mountain, 3,766.4 m (12,349 ft), of New Zealand, on South Island in the Southern Alps.
A peak, 4,196.8 m (13,760 ft) high, in the St. Elias Mountains on the border between Alaska and Yukon Territory, Canada.

Learn more about cook

cook synonyms

cook phrase meanings

cook in a sentence

cook quotes

link/cite print suggestion box