| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| cook up | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | informal to concoct or invent (a story, alibi, etc) |
| 2. | to prepare (a meal), esp quickly |
| 3. | slang to prepare (a drug) for use by heating, as by dissolving heroin in a spoon |
| —n | |
| 4. | (in the Caribbean) a dish consisting of mixed meats, rice, shrimps, and sometimes vegetables |
"There is the proverb, the more cooks the worse potage." [Gascoigne, 1575]Related: Cooker (a type of stove, 1884); cookery (1390s); cooking (1640s).
a person employed to perform culinary service. In early times among the Hebrews cooking was performed by the mistress of the household (Gen. 18:2-6; Judg. 6:19), and the process was very expeditiously performed (Gen. 27:3, 4, 9, 10). Professional cooks were afterwards employed (1 Sam. 8:13; 9:23). Few animals, as a rule, were slaughtered (other than sacrifices), except for purposes of hospitality (Gen. 18:7; Luke 15:23). The paschal lamb was roasted over a fire (Ex. 12:8, 9; 2Chr. 35:13). Cooking by boiling was the usual method adopted (Lev. 8:31; Ex. 16:23). No cooking took place on the Sabbath day (Ex. 35:3).
cook up
Fabricate, concoct, as in She's always cooking up some excuse. [Colloquial; mid-1700s]