now you're cooking - Glite Dictionary

Examples

Now, you're cooking.

Criminal Law (1989)
Now you're cooking!

The Front Page (1974)
Now you're cookin' with gas.

Spaced Invaders (1990)
Now you're cooking; that idea is brilliant and will surely work!
When you finally solved the problem, I thought, now you're cooking!
After that last attempt, I can see you're cooking with the right approach.

Synonyms

there you go

vsnow you're cooking

Informal

426 4.9

Say this to show you have given something or finished a task

encourages earlier during progress rather than only confirming completion

great job

vsnow you're cooking

Informal

284 1.0

To praise someone for doing a task well

supports during progress or when someone identifies the right solution

nice one

vsnow you're cooking

UK

16 7.4

A short way to show approval or praise for something done well

encourages while someone makes progress or finds the correct solution

we have a winner

vsnow you're cooking

Informal

9 5.8

You say this when someone wins or something works well

encourages casually during progress or when someone finds the right solution

hurray

vsnow you're cooking

5 2.6

A shout people make when they are happy or excited

encourages directly during progress or when someone finds the right solution

Antonyms

failure

557 1.3

Not reaching what was planned or expected

setback

148 3.6

A problem that delays progress or makes things worse

How Well

victorious

62 3.7

now you're cooking

Informal

9.3

to making progress

251 2.8

noneffective

5.9

Surface Forms

now you're cooking main

Morphology

now + you're + cooking

Although built from transparent words ('now' + 'you are' + 'cooking'), the idiomatic sense ‘you're doing well/making good progress’ is a metaphorical extension rather than the literal act of preparing food, so the exact meaning is not reliably predictable from the parts. A B1 learner who knows the constituents might guess a positive meaning in context but would generally need prior exposure to arrive at the praise/encouragement sense.

Etymology

Now you're cooking comes from the simple image of food finally heating up on the stove: when the pot starts to cook, things are working well. One popular story says it is a short form of 'now you're cooking with gas', so it means 'you're doing well' or 'making good progress'.