▪ I. cook, n.
(kʊk)
Forms: 1 cóc, 3 coc, cok, kok, 4–7 coke, cooke, (4–5 Sc. cuk(e, 5 koke, kowke, kuke, pl. cocus), 5– cook.
[OE. cóc, ad. L. coquus, late L. cocus cook. Cf. OS. kok, MDu. coc, pl. cōke, Du. kok, LG. kokk; OHG. choh (hh), MHG., mod.G. koch; Icel. kokkr, Da. kok, Sw. kock. In continental Teutonic, as shown by the short o, and the High Germ. form, older than the 7th c.; in Eng. the long ó speaks to an independent later adoption from Latin, after the lengthening of original short vowels in open syllables (cōcus for cocus).]
1. One whose occupation is the preparation of food for the table: see cook v. 2. a. orig. always masculine; applied to (a) the domestic officer charged with the preparation of food for a great household, monastery, college, ship, etc., (b) a tradesman who prepares and sells cooked food, the keeper of an eating-house or restaurant.
In sense (a) now chiefly used in colleges and ships; in large households, hotels, etc. the head-cook is usually called chef (chef de cuisine); in other cases distinguished from b. as man-cook. In (b) it survives in the Cooks' Company, one of the London City Companies, and in pastry-cook, and cook's shop, now commonly cook-shop, but is obs. as a simple trade-name.
| (a) c 1000 Ags. Ps. ci. 3 Swylce hi on cocer-pannan cocas gehyrstan. c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxviii. (Z.) 176 cocus cóc. c 1205 Lay. 8101 Weoren in þeos kinges cuchene twa hundred cokes. Ibid. 19948 Nefde he [Arthur] neuere nænne coc [c 1275 cok]. c 1300 Havelok 2898 Bertram þat was þe erles kok. 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 540 A cuke and a portere. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xlvi, Cocus in the kechine. c 1450 Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 684/24 Hic archemerus, a master cuke. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. ix. 23 Then the coke toke vp a shulder..and set it before Saul. 1553 S. Cabot Ordinances in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 260 The steward and cooke of euery ship. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 35 This yere was a coke boylyd in a cauderne in Smythfeld for he wolde a powsynd the byshoppe of Rochester. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. Introd. Pref. (1675) 33 He had rather his Entertainments should please the Guests, than the Cooks. 1727 Swift Gulliver i. vi. 73 I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals. 1890 Balliol College (Oxf.) Rules 4 The dinner at the Strangers' Table is not to cost more than half-a-crown per head, and is to be arranged by the Cook. |
| (b) 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 104 Cookes [B. cokes] and heore knaues Cryen hote pies, hote! Ibid. iii. 70 Brewesters, Bakers, Bochers and Cookes. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 379 A Cook [v r. cok, cooke] they hadde with hem for the nones To boille the chicknes with the marybones. 1415 York Myst. Introd. 24 Ordo paginarum ludi No. 35 Cukes, Waterleders [c. 1440 title of xxxii in text, The Cokis and Watir-leders]. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 405 That non Bochour..occupie cokes crafte w{supt}yn the liberte of the seid cite. 1530 Palsgr. 206/2 Coke that selleth meate, cuisinier. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 14 We went to a boiling cook's in Rosemary-lane. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 200 The Cooks of London, who were incorporated by King Edw. IV. bargained and sold a part of their lands in fee. |
b. Applied to a woman,
esp. one employed to cook or manage the cooking in a private family. Also
woman-cook;
cf. cookess,
cook-maid.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. viii. 13 As for youre doughters, he shall take them to be Apotecaries, cokes, [Wyclif fier makers], and bakers. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. ii. 4 Mistris Quickly; which is in the manner of his Nurse; or his dry-Nurse; or his Cooke; or his Laundry. 1611 ― Wint. T. iv. iv. 56 She was both Pantler, Butler, Cooke, Both Dame and Seruant. 1858 Miss Mulock Th. ab. Wom. 95, I am truly thankful, and sincerely indebted to her too; for a good cook is a household blessing. 1882 Standard 18 Dec., 8/3 Wanted, a Good Plain Cook. |
c. fig. One who ‘cooks’ literature, accounts, etc. See
cook v. 3.
| a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting 113 Thy scrows obscure are borowed fra some buike; Fra Lindesay thou tooke; thourt Chaucers cuike. 1830 Babbage Decline of Science 178 If a hundred observations are made, the Cook must be very unlucky if he cannot pick out fifteen or twenty which will do for serving up. |
d. Chess. An unforeseen second solution that spoils a problem, position, etc.
| 1875 S. H. Thomas in Westm. Papers VII. 243, I almost imagined the author's solution a ‘cook’. 1876 W. Nash Ibid. IX. 53 If this is not a cook the problem is much under the composer's usually high standard. 1894 Daily News 30 July 6/7 The latest delinquent is the composer of problem No. 55, whose intention was to mate by 1 Q-Kt 4, overlooking the easy cook by 1 Q × Kt. 1966 New Statesman 24 June 941/2 Veitch found the otherwise beautiful piece blemished by this cook. |
e. Paper-Manuf. The boiling procedure in a digester; the materials being boiled.
| 1906 R. W. Sindall Paper Technol. v. 62 The progress of the ‘cook’ is carefully watched. 1937 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper 224/2 Slow cook, another term for the Mitscherlich process of digesting pulp. 1963 R. R. A. Higham Handbk. Papermaking v. 100 Digestion may take place either as a quick cook or a slow cook. |
2. Proverbs.
| 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 19 He is an evyle cooke, that can not lycke his owne fyngers. 1575 Gascoigne Life Sir P. Carew 33 There is the proverb, the more cooks the worse potage. 1577 T. Vautrollier Luther on Ep. Gal. 163 There is a common prouerbe, that hunger is the best Cooke. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. ii. 6. 1602 W. Fulbecke Pandectes 78 The Italian by-word, the woman is the fire, the man is the roast meate, in commeth the deuile, and he playeth the cooke. 1662 Gerbier Princ. (1665) 24 Too many Cooks spoils the Broth. 1663 ― Counsel (1664) 104 As every Cook commends his own Sauce; more then one Cook to a dish will spoil it. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 387 He is a Master of Cook's Latin. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., A bad Cook is call'd the Cook of Hesdin, who poison'd the Devil. 1774 Garrick On Goldsmith's Charact. Cookery, Heaven sends us good meat, but the Devil sends cooks. |
3. Comb., as
cook-director,
cook-like adv.,
cook-serving ppl. a.;
cook-book, a cookery-book (
orig. U.S.);
cook-boy, a boy engaged in cooking, or as assistant to a cook;
cook-camp N. Amer. the part of a camp in which the cooking is done; a building serving as kitchen and eating-room;
cook-conner,
-cunner,
cook-fish = cook-wrasse below;
cook-general, a domestic servant who does house-work as well as cooking;
cook-housekeeper, a domestic servant who does the work of both cook and housekeeper;
cook-housemaid, a female servant who does the work both of cook and housemaid;
cook-pot, a pot used for cooking;
cook-shack N. Amer., a shack in which cooking is done;
cook's knife, a general-purpose kitchen knife; one used by a cook;
cook's mate,
cook-mate, the deputy or assistant of a ship's cook;
cook-stove U.S., a cooking-stove;
cook-tent U.S., a tent in which food is cooked;
cook-wagon U.S., a wagon with a cooking outfit;
cook-wrasse, the male of a species of Wrasse (
Labrus mixtus). See also
cook-house, -maid, -room, -shop, -wench.
| 1809 R. Tyler Yankey in London 179 An assortment of culinary reviews, vulgarly called *cook-books. 1881 Mrs. F. E. Owens (title) Cook Book, and useful Hints for the Household. 1889 Pall Mall G. 2 July (Rept. of American Library) We cannot supply the demand for cook books and elementary works on domestic economy. 1951 ‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids xiv. 250 With the aid of a cook-book Josella had managed to produce meals of a kind. 1970 N.Y. Times 1 Sept. 38/6 A minimum of $45 for me, my apron, and my cookbook. |
| 1807 Edin. Rev. X. 104 Bob, the *cook-boy, comported himself rudely. 1953 D. Lessing Five iv. 208 His cook-boy, who had worked for him twelve years, gave notice that month. 1963 Times 27 Feb. 12/6 Ibrahim, Iranian cook-boy to the entourage. |
| 1893 Scribner's Mag. June 703/2 A *cook camp..is a large dining-room and kitchen combined. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 393/2 ‘Yer supper's ready’ said Payson, emerging from the cook-camp. 1935 A. Sullivan Great Divide 194 There was..the cook camp with its log annex for supplies and fresh beef. 1969 L. G. Sorden Lumberjack Lingo 26 Cook camp, a building used as kitchen and dining room in a logging camp. Same as cook house, cook shanty. |
| 1709 E. Ward in Wks. Cervantes vi, To be chosen *Cook-Director of the whole Feast. |
| 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 240 The *Cook-fish is so called of the Sea⁓men, because he so pleasantly tasteth when he is well sodden. |
| 1896 Daily News 30 Oct. 10/4 *Cook-general and Young Housemaid wanted. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 45/1 A cook-general is expected to undertake a certain amount of general housework. |
| 1892 C. M. Yonge That Stick xi. 71 The indoor servants were all new, the *cook-housekeeper hired by Lady Kenton's assistance. 1950 ‘J. Tey’ To love & be Wise xi. 128 The back door was always locked by Mrs Brett, the cook-housekeeper. |
| 1882 Standard 18 Dec. 8/3 Wanted, a *cook-housemaid and nurse. |
| 1853 Hickie tr. Aristophanes (1887) I. 41 Did you hear how *cook-like..he serves up to himself. |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 23/2 A new patent colander sauce⁓pan and *cook-pot. |
| 1843 P. Parley's Ann. IV. 91 Lascaris disguised himself as a *cook-serving man. |
| 1909 R. A. Wason Happy Hawkins 38 Jabez changed directions for the *cook shack. 1912 J. B. Bickersteth Land of Open Doors (1914) 157 They were ready to pull down the cook-shack over his ears. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) ii. v. 132 Railroad cookshacks. |
| 1868 M. Jewry Warne's Model Cookery Bk. 30/3, 2 *cook's knives. 1939 J. Cary Mr. Johnson 88 Sozy's cook's knife, a black-handled French knife with a sharp point. |
| 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4649/4 [He] has been at Sea some time in the Queen's Service as *Cook's Mate. 1763 Mackenzie in Phil. Trans. LIV. 80 Cooks and cooks mates, who are always near the fire, suffer more by the plague, than any other set of people. 1865 Calcutta Rev. XLI. 327 A cook-mate on board a Dutch man-of-war. |
| 1824 T. B. Hazard Nailer Tom's Diary (1930) 625/1 Sett up the *Cook Stoe [sic] in the west Room. 1838 H. Colman Mass. Agric. Rep. 80 The wood when cut fit for a cook stove is worth $4 a cord. 1853 Cook-stove [see stove n.1 5 a]. 1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 23 Aug. p. i/3 A voyage is dull without tea and life a cheerless blank without a cookstove. |
| 1885 E. Custer Boots & Saddles 53 We looked out, to find the *cook-tent blown flat to the ground. 1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) ii. 14 Our cooktent had a pleasant business warmth, too. |
| 1900 H. Garland Eagle's Heart 162 In the shade of the *cook wagon. 1907 Mulford Bar-20 xi. 119 Two cook wagons were stalled a short distance from the corral. |
| 1859 Yarrell Brit. Fishes (ed. 3) I. 495 The Red Wrasse..was ascertained by Fries to be the female of the *Cook Wrasse. |
Add:
[3.] cooktop orig. U.S., a cooking unit with hotplates or burners,
esp. one built into or on top of a cabinet.
| 1959 House Beautiful Feb. 133/1 (caption) Other ready-to-heat foods have storage cupboard close to *cooktop. 1970 Kitchen & Bath Guide (House & Garden) 100/1 This model has glass ceramic electric cooktop. 1986 House & Garden July 20/1 (Advt.), The 2-plate electric hob..and the ‘pot-flat’ glass-ceramic cooktop. |
▪ II. cook, v.1 (
kʊk)
Also 4
coke.
[f. cook n. Cf. OHG. kochôn, chochen, MHG. and mod.G. kochen, MLG. kōken, Du. koken, Da. koge, which are however only parallel forms.] 1. a. intr. To act as cook, to prepare food by the action of heat (
for a household, etc.). (Now regarded as the
absol. use of 2.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 150 Þei [prestis] schulden travel night and day to coke for mennis gostly fode. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 60 Thenne cam contrition þat hadde coked for hem alle. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 150 They did not venture to make a fire and cook, it is true. 1881 Queen's Regul. for Army xvii. ¶86 The most competent man is to be selected to cook for the whole of the troops on board. |
b. Slang
phr. to cook with gas (or electricity, radar): to succeed, to do very well; to act or think correctly; also
to cook on the front (top) burner.
U.S.| 1941 Star (Kansas City) 23 Feb., Now you're cooking with electricity! 1942 Time 27 Apr. 84/3 Many a student..figured that..Thurman Arnold was cooking with gas. 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 23/1 Cooking on the front burner, tops. 1946 F. Wakeman Hucksters (1947) xv. 201 Vic said, ‘Good boy, Georgie. Now you're cooking with radar.’ 1958 N. D. Hinton in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. XXX. 39 Although ‘cooking on the front burner’ has long since gone out of style, some musicians still refer to New York as ‘The Apple’. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xi. 77 Those Mounties cook with gas. With gas, brother—they're murder. 1965 ‘N. Carter’ Arm'd Rhinoceros xxiv. 264 ‘These pens are no good.’.. ‘You're cooking on the front burner, Mac,’ I replied in a kind of English to relieve my feelings. |
c. To play music with excitement, inspiration, etc.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1943 N.Y. Times 9 May ii. 5/4 Brother, when you are cooking with both burners the fiddle is out. 1955 L. Feather Encycl. Jazz 346 Cook, v. (Usually in the expression ‘He's cookin'.’) To play with rhythmic inspiration. 1965 Crescendo Oct. 12/1 In some of the up-tempos Len Livesey really was cooking. 1968 Ibid. June 12/2 The band used to get up on the bandstand and really cook. |
2. a. trans. To prepare or make ready (food); to make fit for eating by due application of heat, as by boiling, baking, roasting, broiling, etc.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. vi. 39 There is cold meat i' th' Caue, we'l brouz on that Whil'st what we haue kill'd, be Cook'd. 1611 ― Cymb. v. iv. 156 Hanging is the word, Sir, if you bee readie for that, you are well Cook'd. 1653 Walton Angler 52 I will tel you..how to cook him. 1779–80 Cook Voy. I. i. xvii. (R.) Bread-fruit is sometimes cooked in an oven of the same kind. 1819 Shelley Cyclops 193 Well, is the dinner fitly cooked and laid? 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 102 Cook the fish thyself here before me. Mod. (title) A hundred ways of cooking potatoes. |
b. with
up (implying manipulation).
| 1680 Sir T. Browne Wks. (1852) III. 468, I know no other animal wherein the rectum is cooked up. |
c. intr. (for
refl.) Of food: To undergo cooking, to be cooked.
Colloq. phr. (
orig. U.S.)
what's cooking?, what is happening? what is in train?
In the construction ‘to be cooking’, ‘cooking’ is historically the
vbl. n. (to be
a-cooking,
i.e. in process of cooking); but this runs together with ‘to cook’,
= ‘cook itself’ or ‘be cooked’;
= F.
se cuire.
Cf. similar construction of
bake,
boil,
cut,
eat,
taste, etc.
| 1857 S. Osborn Quedah xx. 274 Whilst the rice was cooking, I thought I might as well run up and see the town. 1891 Leisure Hour Dec. 144/1 Stew, stirring well, till the pulp cooks to a marmalade. Mod. These pears do not cook well: they are not good cookers. 1942 R. Chandler High Window 70 It stopped at six, I got out, and the old man leaned out of the car to spit and said in a dull voice: ‘What's cookin'?’ 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 62 What's cooking? What's happening? What's on? 1945 S. Lewis C. Timberlane 113 It was part of their creed and time that every so often Eino and Jinny should say to each other, ‘What's cooking?’ 1956 ‘A. Gilbert’ Death came Too xvi. 165 What's cooking?.. Are you going to uncover the villain? |
d. trans. and intr. To prepare opium for use by the application of heat.
| 1887 in Amer. Speech (1948) XXIII. 246/2 The roller dips his yenhook into the shell or hoptoy, and conveys the opium over the lamp to cook it, which takes but a few seconds. 1916 T. Burke Limehouse Nights (1917) 260 Lois..began to ‘cook’ for her boy... She..dug out the treacly hop..and held it against the flame. 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. xi. 681 The preparation of the opium is called cooking (or rolling) a pill. |
e. trans. To make radioactive. Also
intr., to become radioactive.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1950 in Amer. Speech (1952) XXVII. 204 Others are formed in aluminum cans of raw material ‘cooked’ by the pile's neutrons. 1951 Time 19 Nov. 40/1 More cobalt is being ‘cooked’ for the first U.S. units. 1959 C. Hodder-Williams Chain Reaction xiii. 157 If the thing won't cook if they [sc. the control rods] 're raised about three quarters of the way out, you can reckon that there's something cockeyed somewhere. |
3. fig. Also with
up (
esp. in a and b, rare in c).
| 1588 T. L. To Ch. Rome (1651) 19 How may he cook or spice his Commandements, to have them approved of your mouths? 1710 Palmer Proverbs 188 When the countenance is thus cook'd up, and set in form, out comes two or three If you'll give me leave's. 1739 Sheridan tr. Persius iii. 51 He is cooked up in all the State and Formalities of a dead Person. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxvii. 194, I go that job cookit. 1859 M. Napier Mem. Claverhouse I. ii. 353 Lauderdale..was cooked into such a loyalist..by eleven years of durance in the Tower. |
b. To ‘get up’, concoct.
| 1624 Quarles Div. Poems, Job (1717) 155 The toiling Swain, that hath with pleasing trouble Cookt a small Fortune. 1751 Chesterfield Lett. III. ccxlvii. 133 We cooked up a bill for that purpose. 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad ii, I've cooked up a Petition. 1817 Cobbett Wks. XXXII. 84 [They] cook up a doctrine of fatality. They say, it is the fate of nations, etc. 1889 Grant Allen Tents of Shem I. 145 To inspect the sketch he was busily cooking. |
c. To present in a surreptitiously altered form, for some purpose; to manipulate, ‘doctor’, falsify, tamper with.
colloq.| 1636 Earl of Strafford Lett. (1739) II. 16 The Proof was once clear, however they have cook'd it since. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. xcviii, Some falsified printed accounts, artfully cooked up, on purpose to mislead and deceive. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. ix. §2 These accounts, even if cooked, still exercise some check. 1872 J. A. H. Murray Introd. Compl. Scot. 117 The editor was attacked by..Pinkerton, for not printing the text ‘as a classic’, i.e. cooking the spelling, etc., as he himself would have done. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xx. 410 Occasionally the sealers may have quietly ‘cooked’ the return. |
4. a. To ruin, spoil, ‘do for’.
slang.| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 360 (Farmer) When..the cabs that carry four come in, they cooked the hackney-coachmen in no time. 1889 Field 14 Dec. 854 [Chess] If there are two key-moves, a problem is cooked. |
b. to cook any one's goose: to ‘do for’ a person or thing; to ruin or kill.
slang. See
goose.
| a 1851 Street Ballad in Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 243 (Hoppe) If they come here we'll cook their goose, The Pope and Cardinal Wiseman. 1860 Trollope Framley P. xlii, Chaldicotes, Gagebee, is a cooked goose, as far as Sowerby is concerned. 1863 Reade Hard Cash xiv, If you worry or excite your brain..you will cook your own goose—by a quick fire. 1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead iii. v, It..will be quite enough to cook your goose as it is. |
▪ III. † cook, v.2 Obs. Also 7
Sc. couk.
[From the sound.] intr. To utter the note of the cuckoo.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 50 Let constant Cuckoes cooke on euery side. 1724 Ramsay Evergreen (Cherrie & Slae ii.), The Corbie crys, The Coukow couks. |
▪ IV. cook, v.3 Sc. (
kuk)
[Origin uncertain.] To disappear suddenly.
| 1787 Burns Halloween xxv Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays, Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle; Whyles cookit underneath the braes, Below the spreading hazel. |
▪ V. cook var. of
cuck v.