<B>cook</B> (1), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to prepare (food) by using heat. We use coal, wood, gas, oil, and electricity for cooking. Boiling, frying, broiling, roasting, and baking are forms of cooking. <DD><B> 2. </B>to apply heat or fire to. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) to subject to atomic radiation, especially by means of a nuclear reactor. <BR> <I>Ex. thorium ... can be converted into the fuel U-233 by cooking it in a pile (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to tamper with; falsify; doctor. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to prepare food for eating; act or work as cook. <BR> <I>Ex. He cooked in lumber camps for twenty years.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to undergo cooking; be cooked. <BR> <I>Ex. Let the meat cook slowly. The dumplings cooked too long.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to happen; take place. <BR> <I>Ex. We asked Mr. Randall what was cooking in the dance world (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(U.S. Slang.) to act or play with spirit and excitement; work very well. <BR> <I>Ex. Ray Fransen is on the drums, and he makes everything cook. It is the best band we have heard yet (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a person who cooks. <BR><I>expr. <B>cook up,</B> (Informal.) <DD><B> a. </B>to make up or prepare. </I> <I>Ex. White House foreign policy ... has a brain trust cooking up a new approach to foreign aid (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) to prepare falsely. <BR> <I>Ex. He cooked up an excuse for being late. Negroes were arrested on the roads and herded into jails on cooked-up charges (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cook">
<B>cook</B> (2), intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) to disappear suddenly. </DL>
<A NAME="cookbook">
<B>cookbook, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a book of directions for cooking various kinds of food; book of recipes. </DL>
<A NAME="cooker">
<B>cooker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>an apparatus, appliance, or container to cook things in. <BR> <I>Ex. a steam cooker.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(British.) stove. <BR> <I>Ex. At last an inexpensive cooker with all the luxuries, plus sensational new features (Sunday Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Especially British.) any variety of fruit or vegetable especially suitable for cooking. </DL>
<A NAME="cookery">
<B>cookery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the art or occupation of cooking. <BR> <I>Ex. Besides television, their major diversion is ... cookery (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a place for cooking. </DL>
<A NAME="cookerybook">
<B>cookery book,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) a cookbook. </DL>
<A NAME="cookgeneral">
<B>cook-general, </B>noun, pl. <B>cooks-general.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a servant whose duties include cooking and general housework. </DL>
<A NAME="cookhouse">
<B>cookhouse, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a room or place for cooking. <BR> <I>Ex. the cookhouse that served 3,300 meals a day (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cookie">
<B>cookie, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small, flat, sweet cake. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Scottish.) a plain bun. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>a person, especially a man, of a specified character. <BR> <I>Ex. a smart cookie, a tough cookie. "Wish I was as shrewd a cookie as Paul Newman" (Robert Redford).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a familiar form of address for a girl. <BR> <I>Ex. Hi, cookie!</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(U.S. Cowboy Slang.) a cook who prepares the food and rides the range with a chuck wagon. <BR><I>expr. <B>that's how</B> (or <B>the way</B>) <B>the cookie crumbles,</B> </I>(Especially U.S. Informal.) that is the way it is; that is how things are. <BR> <I>Ex. He charged in against the dragon relying on God to help him, and if He didn't, well, that's the way the cookie crumbles (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cookiecutter">
<B>cookie cutter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mold having sharp edges, for cutting rolled-out dough into a desired shape. </DL>
<A NAME="cookiecutter">
<B>cookie-cutter, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) cast from the same mold; identical in form, nature, or character. <BR> <I>Ex. At Bush headquarters ... there are so many beautiful blond cookie-cutter interns it looks like the student union at Princeton (Vanity Fair).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cookiejar">
<B>cookie jar,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a jar for storing cookies. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Informal.) such a jar used as a hiding place for savings. <BR> <I>Ex. Digging into their cookie jars ... to buy instruments and uniforms (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cookiepusher">
<B>cookie pusher,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a person who spends an inordinate amount of time at social events at the expense of his work. </DL>
<A NAME="cookiesheet">
<B>cookie sheet,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a flat piece of metal, usually with a lip in front, used for baking cookies or biscuits and for warming food in an oven. </DL>
<A NAME="cooking">
<B>cooking, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the art of preparing foods for the table, usually by heating them until they are changed in flavor, tenderness, appearance, and chemical composition. Cooking develops flavor, and makes many foods more attractive in appearance. </DL>
<A NAME="cookout">
<B>cookout, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a picnic or similar meal cooked outdoors on a grill or the like, and eaten outdoors. </DL>
<A NAME="cookshop">
<B>cookshop, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a place where food is cooked and sold; small restaurant. </DL>
<A NAME="cookstour">
<B>Cook's tour,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a hasty and superficial tour; quick sightseeing trip. <BR> <I>Ex. Around the World in 80 Days--A Cook's tour [is] derived from the fantasy by Jules Verne (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any cursory survey or examination. <BR> <I>Ex. The term's course might involve, not a Cook's tour, but a concentrated study of ... some focal problem or issue (Listener).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cookstove">
<B>cookstove, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a stove for cooking. </DL>
<A NAME="cooktop">
<B>cooktop, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a flat metal or ceramic plate embedded with individual heating elements for cooking utensils. <BR> <I>Ex. Overall, considering the various cooking chores ceramic cooktops are used for, we'd estimate they require about 15 percent more energy than regular electric tops (Consumer Reports).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cookware">
<B>cookware, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> articles used in cooking, such as bowls, pans, and spoons. </DL>
<A NAME="cooky">
<B>cooky, </B>noun, pl. <B>cookies.</B> <B>=cookie.</B></DL>
<A NAME="cool">
<B>cool, </B>adjective, adverb, noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>somewhat cold; agreeably cold; more cold than hot. <BR> <I>Ex. a cool, cloudy day. The cool night bathes the world as with a river (Emerson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>allowing or giving a cool feeling. <BR> <I>Ex. a cool, thin dress for summer wear. Under the cool shade of a sycamore (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) not excited; calm; unemotional. <BR> <I>Ex. Every one kept cool when paper in the wastebasket caught fire. While she wept, and I strove to be cool (Tennyson).</I> (SYN) dispassionate. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) having little enthusiasm or interest; not cordial. <BR> <I>Ex. My former friend gave me a cool greeting. The Liberals' reception of the moves has remained cool (London Times).</I> (SYN) indifferent, lukewarm. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) bold or impudent in a calm way. <BR> <I>Ex. In a cool tone the student told the teacher that her test was unfair.</I> (SYN) audacious, outrageous. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Informal.) without exaggeration; no less than. <BR> <I>Ex. He said he had made a cool million dollars trading in stocks.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Slang.) admirable; excellent. <DD><B> 8. </B>(of colors) blue, green, or gray. <BR> <I>Ex. The cool colors are those between violet and green with a maximum coolness near a greenish blue (Matthew Luckiesh).</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>not contaminated by radioactivity. <DD><B> 10. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) characterized by a sophisticated, unemotional, and relaxed style, rendition, or technique. <BR> <I>Ex. Cool jazz shows a marked influence of classical music.</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> (Slang.) in a cool way; coolly. <BR> <I>Ex. Charlotte says, "I just can't come on cool--I don't know why" (Maclean's).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>something cool; a cool part, place, or time. <BR> <I>Ex. in the cool of the evening.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a moderate temperature; coolness. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) calm restraint; presence of mind. <BR> <I>Ex. I thought nothing could shock me any more. I maintained my cool (Saturday Review). The Mexican-American kept his cool in his own ghetto (Time). Sorry if I blew my cool, but it builds up and I have to let go sometimes (New Yorker).</I> (SYN) self-control. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make cool; give a feeling of coolness to. <BR> <I>Ex. Ice cools water. He was cooled by the shade of the apple tree.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to cause to lose enthusiasm or zeal; make less ardent; moderate. <BR> <I>Ex. Losing every bet cooled his interest in gambling.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to become cool. <BR> <I>Ex. The ground cools off when the sun goes down.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to lose enthusiasm or zeal; become less ardent; become moderate. <BR> <I>Ex. His interest in flying cooled after he cracked up his plane. What makes her decide to give him up ... is not his cooling off nor his being already married (Saturday Review).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to resume an ordinary mental balance after showing a fit of temper. <BR> <I>Ex. Don't talk to him now; wait until he cools down. It took him a while to cool off after the quarrel.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>cool it,</B> (Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>to calm down. </I> <I>Ex. Simmer down! Cool it!</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to take it easy; relax. <BR> <I>Ex. I cooled it at a table for a while (Time).</I> <DD><B> c. </B>to loosen up; be carefree. <BR> <I>Ex. The boys ... want to go out and cool it with the neighbor's daughters (New York Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>cool one's heels.</B> </I>See under <B>heel</B> (1). <BR><I>expr. <B>cool out,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to relax (a race horse) after a race or exercise by leading him gently about. <DD><B> b. </B>to become relaxed in this manner. </I> <I>Ex. The trainer said that he "will wait to see how the filly cools out before deciding on her next race" (New York Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>play it cool,</B> </I>(Slang.) to act unemotionally; affect complete reserve or detachment. <BR> <I>Ex. Contemporary realists play it too cool for words like confidence and sympathy, but, almost reluctantly, they seem to be ... in touch with life (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coolabah">
<B>coolabah</B> or <B>coolibah, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of Australian eucalyptus, often found near water. </DL>
