Synonyms

cook up

British

verb

informal to concoct or invent (a story, alibi, etc)
to prepare (a meal), esp quickly
slang to prepare (a drug) for use by heating, as by dissolving heroin in a spoon

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

(in the Caribbean) a dish consisting of mixed meats, rice, shrimps, and sometimes vegetables

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

cook up Idioms

Fabricate, concoct, as in She's always cooking up some excuse. [Colloquial; mid-1700s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And second of all, I could see the plan those two had cooked up together, and I wasn’t going to eat a bite of it.

From Literature

Perhaps this is because religion doesn’t seem to be among the ingredients that contemporary Victor Frankensteins are using to cook up and refine their creations.

From The Wall Street Journal

"By the way, your father's cooking up some business deal with the parents of one of the kids in your class. We're having the whole family over for dinner next week."

From Literature

“A deer got killed on the highway. My grandpa cooked up a stew. What’s the big deal?”

From Literature

No matter which schemes opposing defenses cooked up, Seattle wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba found ways to break free and torch them downfield.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023