Cook

/kʊk/ name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A person who prepares food.
  • Grammar: cook is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: abigail, adulterate, amah, au pair girl.
  • Useful contrasts: accurate reporting, bus the tables, confirm.
  • Usage evidence: It's so hot that you could cook an egg on the hood of a car.

How to use "cook"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "cook" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "cook" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "cook" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "cook" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "cook" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "abigail" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "cook", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who prepares food.

    "I'm a terrible cook, so I eat a lot of frozen dinners."

  2. 2
    someone who cooks food wordnet
  3. 3
    The head cook of a manor house.
  4. 4
    The degree or quality of cookedness of food.
  5. 5
    The member of a hot-rivetting team who heats the rivets in a brazier, see rivet.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    One who manufactures certain illegal drugs, especially meth. slang

    "Police found two meth cooks working in the illicit lab."

  2. 7
    A session of manufacturing certain illegal drugs, especially meth. slang

    "Punko told Plante he wanted to use a full barrel for the next cook."

  3. 8
    A fish, the European striped wrasse, Labrus mixtus.
  4. 9
    An unintended solution to a chess problem, considered to spoil the problem.

    "The original endgame was one file to the right (Kf1, Kb5 etc.). But there is a cook after 1. c6 dxc6 2. d6 cxd6 3. h4 gxh3 e.p. 4. gxh3 Ka4! 5. h4 b5. My version eliminates the cook."

Verb
  1. 1
    To prepare food for eating by heating it, often combining with other ingredients. ambitransitive

    "I'm cooking bangers and mash."

  2. 2
    To make the noise of the cuckoo. intransitive, obsolete, rare

    "Constant cuckoos cook on every side."

  3. 3
    To throw. UK, dialectal, obsolete

    "Cook. To throw. Cook me that ball, throw me that ball. Glou."

  4. 4
    transform and make suitable for consumption by heating wordnet
  5. 5
    To smelt. transitive

    "Your suggestion makes sense. You cook iron with coal to get... iron. The coal is expended, where does it go? inside the iron to turn it into steel in real life. I approve"

Show 18 more definitions
  1. 6
    transform by heating wordnet
  2. 7
    To be cooked. intransitive

    "The dinner is cooking on the stove."

  3. 8
    prepare for eating by applying heat wordnet
  4. 9
    To be uncomfortably hot. figuratively, intransitive

    "Look at that poor dog shut up in that car on a day like today - it must be cooking in there."

  5. 10
    prepare a hot meal wordnet
  6. 11
    To kill, destroy, or otherwise render useless or inoperative through exposure to excessive heat or radiation. slang, transitive

    "You would die from what we might call "extremely acute radiation poisoning" – that is, you would be cooked."

  7. 12
    tamper, with the purpose of deception wordnet
  8. 13
    To execute by electric chair. slang, transitive
  9. 14
    To hold on to a grenade briefly after igniting the fuse, so that it explodes almost immediately after being thrown. slang, transitive

    "I always cook my frags, in case they try to grab one and throw it back."

  10. 15
    To concoct or prepare. transitive

    "My brother was locked up for cooking meth in his basement."

  11. 16
    To tamper with or alter; to cook up. slang, transitive

    "They all of them receive the same advices from abroad, and very often in the same words; but their way of cooking it is so different, that there is no citizen, who has an eye to the public good, who can leave the coffee-house with peace of mind..."

  12. 17
    To play or improvise in an inspired and rhythmically exciting way. (From 1930s jive talk.) intransitive, slang

    "Watch this band: they cook!"

  13. 18
    To play music vigorously. intransitive, slang

    "On the Wagner piece, the orchestra was cooking!"

  14. 19
    To proceed with some plan or course of action, or develop some train of thought towards its conclusion (whether this is advantageous, or comical, or digging into a hole). humorous, intransitive, slang

    "Hol' up, let that boy cook!"

  15. 20
    To proceed with some plan or course of action, or develop some train of thought towards its conclusion (whether this is advantageous, or comical, or digging into a hole).; To proceed with some advantageous course of action; (more generally) to be successful. humorous, intransitive, slang

    "We had to deal with some problems at first, but now we're cooking."

  16. 21
    To proceed with some plan or course of action, or develop some train of thought towards its conclusion (whether this is advantageous, or comical, or digging into a hole).; To develop insane or fringe ideas. Australia, derogatory, humorous, intransitive, slang

    "The furlough of workers during The Lockdowns left many with a conspiracy bent ample time to cook."

  17. 22
    To defeat or humiliate. slang, transitive

    "He didn't prepare for the debate at all, so his opponent cooked him hard."

  18. 23
    To cause to be cooked, i.e. to put in a hopeless situation. slang, transitive

    "This new labor law is really cooking working-class people."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    An English surname originating as an occupation for a cook or seller of cooked food. Famously held by James Cook, English captain and explorer of the Pacific Ocean, and for whom the Cook Islands, Cook Strait and Mount Cook were named. countable
  2. 2
    A placename:; A locale in the United States:; A township in Sac County, Iowa. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A placename:; A locale in the United States:; A township in Decatur County, Kansas. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A placename:; A locale in the United States:; A minor city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota; named for railroad official Wirth Cook. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A placename:; A locale in the United States:; A village in Johnson County, Nebraska; named for landowner Andrew Cook. countable, uncountable
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    A placename:; A locale in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Madison Township, Fayette County, Ohio; named for landowner Matthew S. Cook. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A placename:; A locale in the United States:; A township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A placename:; A suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; named for James Cook. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A placename:; A local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia; in full, the Shire of Cook. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    A placename:; A ghost town in South Australia, Australia; named for Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia. countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    A placename:; A river in Westland district, West Coast, New Zealand. countable, uncountable
  7. 12
    An electoral division in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
abigailadulterateamahau pair girlayahbake

Antonyms

accurate reportingbus the tablesconfirmdishwashers

Example

"It's so hot that you could cook an egg on the hood of a car."

Common questions

What does "cook" mean?

A person who prepares food.

What is a synonym for "cook"?

Common synonyms include: abigail, adulterate, amah, au pair girl, ayah, bake.

How do you use "cook" in a sentence?

It's so hot that you could cook an egg on the hood of a car.

How do you pronounce "cook"?

Pronounced /kʊk/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English cook, from Old English cōc (“a cook”), from Latin cocus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khoch (“cook”), Dutch kok (“cook”), German Koch (“cook”), Luxembourgish Kach (“cook”), Danish kok (“cook”), Icelandic kokkur (“cook”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk kokk (“cook”), Swedish kock (“cook”). Also compare Proto-West Germanic *kokōn (“to cook”) (whence North Frisian kööge, kööki (“to cook, boil”), West Frisian koaitsje (“to cook”), Cimbrian khochan, khòchan (“to cook”), Dutch koken (“to cook”), German kochen (“to cook”), Limburgish kaoke, kauche (“to cook”), Luxembourgish kachen (“to cook”), Vilamovian kocha, koha (“to cook”), Yiddish קאָכן (kokhn, “to cook”)), from Late Latin cocō (“to cook”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English coken, from the noun cook. In the slang sense of "proceed with some plan", coined by American rapper from California Lil B in 2010 and popularized in viral tweets and TikToks in mid-2022.

Etymology 3

Imitative.

Etymology 4

Unknown; possibly related to chuck.

Etymology 5

From cook. Doublet of Koch and Kok.

More for "cook"

Synonyms

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