to cook up
43
5.6
- phrasal verb
- /kʊk ʌp/
- Informal
- Last night, we cooked up an elaborate excuse to avoid the family dinner.
- cook up a story
- cook up a plan
- cook up a scheme
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Watch on YouTubeSo we cooked up this little getaway.
- So we cooked up this little getaway.
- But this sounds overly dramatic, like something cooked up for a spy novel.
- This is what happens when these white people get together and cook up all of these bad ideas.
- I I and that's when that plot to kill Castro was cooked up.
- I am here three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I am cooking up some great content for you guys.
- But I that air that you're talking about, there's just this air of fuckery, you know, that people are cooking up no good, no good.
- At Stanford, we cook up our own intellectual secret sauce, combining tradition and creation in a savory blend.
- It cooks up stories, It cooks up attribution.
- In principle you can cook up all kinds of V of Q&V; of U of Q.
- OK, And we obviously tried to cook up a Theta one merge process, but that didn't work out.
- You know, fucking cooking up a batch of, of cooking up a cooking up a batch of Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons.
- But I will say this, there's an odd thing, of course, 'cause it's AI and everyone's afraid of what AI, what AI has got cooking up.
Examples
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Now all we have to do is cook up a false name.
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What are you two cooking up?
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-Or did you cook up something new?
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I am here three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I am cooking up some great content for you guys.
-
" Your father would know immediately if you lie to him or cook up some phony excuse. "
Fiction book (2002) -
Caught without a gift on the eve of his little brother's birthday, Jack cooks up a brilliant scheme.
Fiction book (1999) -
So we cooked up this little getaway.
-
You may not know this, but over the years, the Disney artists have cooked up dozens of ideas for new Fantasia segments.
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Perhaps they've been cooking up new evidence to prove that she's an unfit mother.
Fiction book (1996) -
At Stanford, we cook up our own intellectual secret sauce, combining tradition and creation in a savory blend.
Synonyms
824
3.2
Invent a story or excuse that is not true
60
3.2
To make up an idea, plan, or excuse
53
6.3
To invent a story, excuse or piece of evidence to deceive people
52
3.2
To make up a story or excuse that is not true
49
6.0
Make up a story or excuse to trick people
46
3.9
To think of a new or unusual idea
41
7.3
To make up false information to trick people
2
4.8
Make up and tell a tale, often to entertain or avoid trouble
1
4.4
To think of a clever or secret plan to do something
1
9.9
To invent a story or excuse that is not true
Decide or think of things during a situation without planning ahead
Antonyms
How Invented
41
7.3
- Informal
43
5.6
824
3.2
49
6.0
- Informal
46
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
cook + up
The meaning 'to prepare or make (a dish)' is directly derivable from combining 'cook' (prepare food) with the particle 'up', which adds a sense of completion or quick/inventive preparation; this compositional pattern is common and predictable for learners. Note that the provided definition of 'cook' in the input is the figurative 'cook the books' sense and is irrelevant here — using the ordinary 'prepare food' sense makes the expression clearly transparent to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The phrasal verb cook up may come from the simple idea of making food: imagine mixing ingredients to create a new dish. When someone cooks up a story they are mixing facts and ideas in the same way, so it now means 'to invent or make up' something, often to trick people.