cook up

phrasal verb

cooked up; cooking up; cooks up
1
: to prepare (food) for eating especially quickly
I can cook up some hamburgers.
He cooked this whole meal up in less than 30 minutes.
2
: to invent (something, such as an idea, excuse, etc.) to deal with a particular situation
They cooked up a scheme to fool their neighbor.
You'll have to cook an excuse up quickly.

Examples of cook up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But the oscillation is far from the only key ingredient in cooking up hurricanes. USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2024 Why Princess Kate conspiracy theories are circulating People online have started cooking up theories surrounding Middleton's public absence. Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 1 Mar. 2024 Romance novelists are constantly cooking up ways to make fictional settings zing with chemistry — imbuing a kitchen’s surfaces with all kinds of potential once tensions boil over, or evoking the warmth and smell of a fireplace as a symbol for how one character makes another feel. Rachel Kurzius, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2024 The best chicken noodle soup tastes like fresh roasted chicken cooked up with vegetables, herbs and noodles. Jolene Thym, The Mercury News, 30 Jan. 2024 Damian Hurley cooked up a seductive new thriller — and enlisted mom Elizabeth Hurley for a key role. Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 28 Feb. 2024 The opening scene is a nearly wordless 30-minute sequence of Eugénie cooking up an extraordinary feast: the clearest of consommés, turbot cooked in four liters of milk, a magnificent vol-au-vent. Jada Yuan, Washington Post, 9 Feb. 2024 Far from a global cabal cooking up a grand conspiracy, the World Economic Forum is a display of elite impotence. Noah Rothman, National Review, 18 Jan. 2024 At that juncture, Martin was simultaneously cooking up something with Martin Short. Garret K. Woodward, Rolling Stone, 20 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cook up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near cook up

Cite this Entry

“Cook up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cook%20up. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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