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Glite Dictionary
to cook up a storm

to cook up a storm

2 4.6
To make a large amount of food for many people with great energy
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : preparar una gran cantidad de comida
  • Mom's been cooking up a storm all day, in your honor.
  • cooking up a storm all day

Examples

  • Whenever friends come over, he loves cooking up a storm and trying new dishes.

  • "I notice you cooking up a storm these days," my daddy said.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I'm cooking up a storm and having a ball.

    Multiplicity (1996)

  • Angela's cooking up a storm.

    Power of Attorney (1995)

  • I'm sure mom's cooking up a storm.

    Stuart Saves His Family (1995)

  • This is everything I ever wanted, Jamie-- just you and me, two gals alone in the kitchen, cooking up a storm.

    Medium Raw (2010)

  • We're back from Waitrose and Poppy and Sean are cooking up a storm for the BBQ.

  • My mom has been cooking up a storm for the family reunion this weekend.

  • After finding her grandmother's favorite recipes, she started cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

Synonyms

to cook
vsto cook up a storm
∞ 1.0

To prepare food by heating it, for example by boiling or frying

means making a large amount with energy rather than just heating food
to whip up a storm
vsto cook up a storm
  • Informal
6.8

To make food quickly or to cause strong excitement

focuses on making a large amount with enthusiasm rather than speed

How Much

to cater
95 3.1
to feast
5 2.7
to cook up a storm
  • Informal
2 4.6
to cook
∞ 1.0
to prepare
374 1.0

Surface Forms

cook up a storm infinitive
cooked up a storm past
cooked up a storm past participle
cooking up a storm present participle
cooks up a storm third person singular

Morphology

cook + up + a + storm

The verb 'cook' plus the particle 'up' clearly signals preparing or producing food, and 'a storm' here is used metaphorically to indicate intensity or a large quantity; a learner who knows these words could plausibly infer 'prepare a large amount of food energetically.' However, treating 'a storm' as a metaphor for abundance or high energy in this fixed collocation requires some figurative mapping and collocational knowledge, so the meaning is not fully predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Cook up a storm makes you imagine a busy kitchen, with pots and pans everywhere and activity like a storm as someone cooks quickly and loudly. One popular story says this picture led to the phrase meaning 'to prepare a large amount of food with great energy'.