cook
cook / koŏk/ • v. 1. [tr.] prepare (food, a dish, or a meal) by combining and heating the ingredients in various ways: shall I cook dinner tonight? | [intr.] I told you I could cook. ∎ [intr.] (of food) be heated so that the condition required for eating is reached: while the rice is cooking, add the saffron to the stock. ∎ (cook something down) heat food and cause it to thicken and reduce in volume. ∎ [intr.] (cook down) (of food being cooked) be reduced in volume in this way. ∎ (be cooking) inf. be happening or planned: what's cooking on the alternative fuels front?2. [tr.] inf. alter dishonestly; falsify: a narcotics team who cooked the evidence. ∎ (be cooked) be in an inescapably bad situation: if I can't talk to him, I'm cooked.3. [intr.] inf. perform or proceed vigorously or well: the band used to get up on the bandstand and really cook.• n. a person who prepares and cooks food, esp. as a job or in a specified way: I'm a good cook.PHRASES: cook the books inf. alter facts or figures dishonestly or illegally.PHRASAL VERBS: cook something up concoct a story, excuse, or plan, esp. an ingenious or devious one. DERIVATIVES: cook·a·ble adj.
Cook
Captain James Cook (1728–79), English explorer. On his first expedition to the Pacific (1768–71), he charted the coasts of New Zealand and New Guinea as well as exploring the east coast of Australia and claiming it for Britain. He made two more voyages to the Pacific before being killed in a skirmish with native people in Hawaii.
Cook's tour a rapid tour of many places; named after the travel firm founded by the English businessman Thomas Cook (1808–92). In 1841 he organized the first publicly advertised excursion train in England; the success of this venture led him to organize further excursions both in Britain and abroad.