cook
cook / koŏk/ • v. 1. [tr.] prepare (food, a dish, or a meal) by combining and heating the ingredients in various ways: shall I cook dinner tonight? | [intr.] I told you I could cook. ∎ [intr.] (of food) be heated so that the condition required for eating is reached: while the rice is cooking, add the saffron to the stock. ∎ (cook something down) heat food and cause it to thicken and reduce in volume. ∎ [intr.] (cook down) (of food being cooked) be reduced in volume in this way. ∎ (be cooking) inf. be happening or planned: what's cooking on the alternative fuels front?2. [tr.] inf. alter dishonestly; falsify: a narcotics team who cooked the evidence. ∎ (be cooked) be in an inescapably bad situation: if I can't talk to him, I'm cooked.3. [intr.] inf. perform or proceed vigorously or well: the band used to get up on the bandstand and really cook.• n. a person who prepares and cooks food, esp. as a job or in a specified way: I'm a good cook.PHRASES: cook the books inf. alter facts or figures dishonestly or illegally.PHRASAL VERBS: cook something up concoct a story, excuse, or plan, esp. an ingenious or devious one. DERIVATIVES: cook·a·ble adj.