What is the X in X-mas?


[koo k] /kʊk/
verb (used with object)
to subject (anything) to the application of heat.
Slang. to ruin; spoil.
Informal. to falsify, as accounts:
to cook the expense figures.
verb (used without object)
to prepare food by the use of heat.
(of food) to undergo cooking.
  1. to be full of activity and excitement:
    Las Vegas cooks around the clock.
  2. to perform, work, or do in just the right way and with energy and enthusiasm:
    That new drummer is really cooking tonight. Now you're cooking!
  3. to be in preparation; develop:
    Plans for the new factory have been cooking for several years.
  4. to take place; occur; happen:
    What's cooking at the club?
a person who cooks:
The restaurant hired a new cook.
Verb phrases
cook up, Informal.
  1. to concoct or contrive, often dishonestly:
    She hastily cooked up an excuse.
  2. to falsify:
    Someone had obviously cooked up the alibi.
cook one's goose. goose (def 11).
cook the books, Slang. to manipulate the financial records of a company, organization, etc., so as to conceal profits, avoid taxes, or present a false financial report to stockholders.
before 1000; (noun) Middle English cok(e), Old English cōc (compare Old Norse kokkr, German Koch, Dutch kok) < Latin cocus, coquus, derivative of coquere to cook; akin to Greek péptein (see peptic); (v.) late Middle English coken, derivative of the noun
Related forms
cookable, adjective
cookless, adjective
uncookable, adjective Unabridged
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British Dictionary definitions for cookless


(transitive) (slang) to alter or falsify (something, esp figures, accounts, etc): to cook the books
(transitive) (slang) to spoil or ruin (something)
(intransitive) (slang) to happen (esp in the phrase what's cooking?)
(transitive) (slang) to prepare (any of several drugs) by heating
(intransitive) (music, slang) to play vigorously: the band was cooking
(informal) cook someone's goose
  1. to spoil a person's plans
  2. to bring about someone's ruin, downfall, etc
a person who prepares food for eating, esp as an occupation
See also cook up
Derived Forms
cookable, adjective
cooking, noun
Word Origin


noun Mount Cook


Captain James. 1728–79, British navigator and explorer: claimed the E coast of Australia for Britain, circumnavigated New Zealand, and discovered several Pacific and Atlantic islands (1768–79)
Sir Joseph. 1860–1947, Australian statesman, born in England: prime minister of Australia (1913–14)
Peter (Edward). 1937–95, British comedy actor and writer, noted esp for his partnership (1960–73) with Dudley Moore
Robin, full name Robert Finlayson Cook. 1946–2005, British Labour politician; foreign secretary (1997–2001), Leader of the House (2001-2003)
Thomas. 1808–92, British travel agent; innovator of conducted excursions and founder of the travel agents Thomas Cook and Son
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for cookless



Old English coc, from Vulgar Latin cocus "cook," from Latin coquus, from coquere "to cook, prepare food, ripen, digest, turn over in the mind" from PIE root *pekw- "to cook" (cf. Oscan popina "kitchen," Sanskrit pakvah "cooked," Greek peptein, Lithuanian kepti "to bake, roast," Old Church Slavonic pecenu "roasted," Welsh poeth "cooked, baked, hot"). Germanic languages had no one native term for all types of cooking, and borrowed the Latin word (Old Saxon kok, Old High German choh, German Koch, Swedish kock).

There is the proverb, the more cooks the worse potage. [Gascoigne, 1575]


late 14c., from cook (n.); the figurative sense of "to manipulate, falsify, doctor" is from 1630s. Related: Cooked, cooking. To cook with gas is 1930s jive talk.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang definitions & phrases for cookless


  1. To be put to death in the electric chair; fry (1930s+)
  2. To happen; occur: Is anything cooking on the new tax rule? (1940s+ Jive talk)
  3. To do very well; excel: if the performers begin cooking together and most of the director's intuitions and skills pay off (1930+ Jazz musicians)
  4. To falsify; tamper with: The British government cooked press stories shamelessly in order to deceive the Argentine enemy/ She cooked the statistics (1636+)
  5. To dissolve heroin in water over a flame before injecting it (1960s+ Narcotics)

Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.
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cookless in the Bible


Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms and Phrases with cookless
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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