cook

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”). Cognate with Low German kokk, Dutch kok, German Koch, Danish kok, Norwegian kokk, Swedish kock, Icelandic kokkur (“cook”). Also compare Proto-West Germanic *kokōn (“to cook”).

noun

1. (cooking) A person who prepares food.
   I'm a terrible cook, so I eat a lot of frozen dinners.
2. (cooking) The head cook of a manor house.
3. (cooking) The degree or quality of cookedness of food.
4. (slang) One who manufactures certain illegal drugs, especially meth.
   Police found two meth cooks working in the illicit lab.
   By late October, the pressure on the Dark Arrows' ecstasy cook had eased. Other suppliers had moved in with product. 2008, Mel Bradshaw, Victim Impact
   Owsley Stanley was a pioneer LSD cook, and the Purple Owsley pill from his now-defunct lab was Dad's prized possession, a rare, potent, druggie collector's item, the alleged inspiration for the Hendrix song “Purple Haze.” 2011, Mackenzie Phillips, High on Arrival
5. (slang) A session of manufacturing certain illegal drugs, especially meth.
   Punko told Plante he wanted to use a full barrel for the next cook. 2011, Neal Hall, Hell To Pay: Hells Angels vs. The Million-Dollar Rat, page 36
6. A fish, the European striped wrasse, Labrus mixtus.
7. (chess) 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. 2003 June, Pal Benko, “Endgame Lab”, in Chess Life, volume 58, number 6, New Windsor, N.Y.: United States Chess Federation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 49

Etymology 2

From Middle English coken, from the noun cook. In the slang sense of "proceed with some plan", popularized in viral tweets and TikToks in mid-2022.

verb

1. (transitive or intransitive) To prepare food for eating by heating it, often combining with other ingredients.
   I'm cooking bangers and mash.
   He's in the kitchen, cooking.
   You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf. 27 October 2015, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, page 192
2. (intransitive) To be cooked.
   The dinner is cooking on the stove.
3. (transitive, figurative) To be uncomfortably hot.
   Look at that poor dog shut up in that car on a day like today - it must be cooking in there.
4. (slang) To execute by electric chair.
5. (transitive, military slang) To hold on to a grenade briefly after igniting the fuse, so that it explodes almost immediately after being thrown.
   I always cook my frags, in case they try to grab one and throw it back.
6. To concoct or prepare.
   The process of cooking meth can leave residue on surfaces all over the home, exposing all of its occupants to the drug. 2006, Frank Spalding, Methamphetamine: The Dangers of Crystal Meth, page 47
7. To tamper with or alter; to cook up.
   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... 1880, Joseph Addison, Richard John Green, “The newspaper”, in Essays of Joseph Addison, London: Roger de Coverly Club, page 154
8. (intransitive, jazz, slang) To play or improvise in an inspired and rhythmically exciting way. (From 1930s jive talk.)
   Watch this band: they cook!
   Crank up the Coltrane and start cooking!
   This album is called Cookin’ at Miles’ request. He said, “After all, that’s what we did – came in and cooked.” 1957, Miles Davis quoted by Ira Gitler, liner notes to Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Prestige LP 7094
9. (intransitive, music, slang) To play music vigorously.
   On the Wagner piece, the orchestra was cooking!
   The tempos were swift. The orchestra cooked, reading [conductor] Kahane's mind and swinging with him as one. 2012, “Review: Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra won't stand still”, in Los Angeles Times
10. (slang, humorous) In certain phrases: to proceed with some advantageous plan or course of action (especially in relation to flirting or applying rizz).
    hol up, let that boy cook!

Etymology 3

Imitative.

verb

1. (obsolete, rare, intransitive) To make the noise of the cuckoo.
   Constant cuckoos cook on every side. 1599, Thomas Moffet, The Silkwormes, and their Flies, London: V.S. for Nicholas Ling, →OCLC

Etymology 4

Unknown; possibly related to chuck.

verb

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To throw.
   Cook. To throw. Cook me that ball, throw me that ball. Glou. 1787, Francis Grose, A Provincial Glossary: With a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitions, London: Printed for S. Hooper, →OCLC, page 37