to cook up
37
5.6
- phrasal verb
- /kʊk ʌp/
- Informal
:
inventar
- 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
So 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
-
Now all we have to do is cook up a false name.
-
What are you two cooking up?
-
-Or did you cook up something new?
-
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.
-
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
972
3.2
Invent a story or excuse that is not true
181
3.2
To make up a story or excuse that is not true
62
6.3
To invent a story, excuse or piece of evidence to deceive people
50
7.3
To make up false information to trick people
48
3.2
To make up an idea, plan, or excuse
46
6.0
Make up a story or excuse to trick people
38
3.9
To think of a new or unusual idea
11
6.6
Decide or think of things during a situation without planning ahead
1
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
To invent a story or excuse that is not true
Antonyms
How Invented
50
7.3
- Informal
37
5.6
972
3.2
46
6.0
- Informal
38
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.