cooked up
cook up
1. Literally, to prepare food by cooking it. A noun or pronoun can be used between "cook" and "up." Are you hungry? I can cook something up for you.
2. To devise something. In this usage, the phrase often has a negative connotation. A noun or pronoun can be used between "cook" and "up." What ridiculous scheme has Sam cooked up now?
3. To plan to do something with someone. A noun or pronoun can be used between "cook" and "up." Have you been able to cook anything up with the boss yet? We really need to meet about this issue soon.
See also: cook, up
cooked up
Forced, artificial, or contrived. The phrase is hyphenated when used before a noun. The dog ate your homework, huh? Now there's cooked-up excuse!
See also: cook, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
cooked up
contrived. (This is hyphenated before a nominal.) The whole thing seems so cooked up. What a cooked-up story! Of course, you don't believe it.
See also: cook, up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
cooked up
mod. contrived. (This is hyphenated before a nominal.) The whole thing seems so cooked up.
See also: cook, up
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
- cook up
- cook off
- fry up
- cook out
- cook somebody's goose
- cook someone's goose
- cook your goose
- cook (one's) goose
- cook goose
- cook to perfection