Cook definition, to prepare food by the use of heat, as by boiling, baking, or roasting. Apr 11, 2019 cook the books is an idiom describing fraudulent activities performed by corporations in order to falsify their financial statements. Vernon cook born 1927, former member of the ohio house of representatives. Cookbook definition of cookbook by the free dictionary. This was about 19% of all the recorded cooks in the usa. It was frustrating for the victims kin as the police and court failed to bring anyone to book for the crime. Thus financial statements can also be so modified to the benefit of the cook. If people cook the books, they keep false accounts to make money illegally or avoid paying tax. New york had the highest population of cook families in 1840. The figurative sense of to manipulate, falsify, alter, doctor is from 1630s phrase cook the books is attested by 1954. Cookbook definition is a book of cooking directions and recipes. Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the cooks surname lived.
Synonyms for cook the books include cheat, embezzle, misappropriate, peculate, fiddle, falsify, manipulate, doctor, massage and alter. The term cooking the books is based in an old secondary definition of the word cook, which is to present something that has been altered in an underhanded way. Any book that contains directions on how to make or cook a variety of substances, be it legal or not. The agency was thus ordered to cook the books, deliberately underestimating the reductions that would be possible under alternative approaches. Apr 22, 2020 bookworm meaning with idiom origin and examples of use. The best cookbooks of the century so far the new yorker. As well as making me feel hungry, watching the contestants create culinary masterpieces got me thinking about common idioms and other phrases in english that are linked to cooking. Cook the books meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. The cook family name was found in the usa, the uk, canada, and scotland between 1840 and 1920. Cook up definition and meaning collins english dictionary. The phrase has been attributed to deke houlgate, who after working in the gas industry, wrote the line for bob hope. Bookworm meaning idiom origin and examples youtube.
I know that company looks attractive, but i wouldnt by their stock. Up until the 18th century cookbooks were used by the wealthy only. The ten cookbooks every cook should own epicurious. A metaphor based on cooking, whereby ingredients are changed, altered and improved. When you cook food, you prepare it to be eaten by heating it in a particular way, such as baking. This idiom simply means to study, especially with particular intensity. The reality television mega mom is now launching a cookbook, meaning the kardashian reach is now extending from our living rooms into o.
Cooking the books the meaning and origin of this phrase. Definition of cooking the books in the idioms dictionary. Said when you are frightened to do something again because you had an unpleasant experience doing it the first time. To change accounts and figures dishonestly, usually to get money.
Cook the books definition, to prepare food by the use of heat, as by boiling, baking, or roasting. Old english had gecocnian, cognate with old high german cochon, german kochen, all verbs from nouns, but the middle english word seems to be a fresh formation from. Old english had gecocnian, cognate with old high german cochon, german kochen, all verbs from nouns, but the middle english word seems to be a fresh formation from the noun in english. Vivian cook academic born 1940, emeritus professor of applied. Cook the books definition is to dishonestly change official records of how much money was spent and received. The most cook families were found in the usa in 1880. If you say someone is on the ball, you mean that he or she understands the situation well. Cook the books definition and meaning collins english. The idiom chief cook and bottle washer is used to refer to someone who is in power in an organization and oversees virtually every aspect of the organization. A company may choose to cook the books in an attempt to improve financial status perceptions within the business community. By the book definition, a handwritten or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers. Victor cook is an american television director, writer, and producer.
Sam had to lie and cook the books to make the accountant think his business was making money. Cook the books meaning, examples why companies do this. Apr 21, 2018 what does the idiom cook the books mean. When the company went bankrupt, it was discovered that one of. Cook the books is a slang term for using accounting tricks to make a companys financial results look better than they really are. We are proud to herald ten such cookbooks as the inaugural class of the epicurious cookbook canon.
If someone cooks up a dishonest scheme, they plan it. Browse our picks for the best cooking, food, and wine books of the month and the best of the year. To cook the books to record false information in the accounts of an organisation. To touch or fidget with something in a restless or nervous way, or tinker with something in an attempt to make minor adjustments or improvements. As a result, this type of creative accounting helps to present a false image of the true nature of the companys financial condition. Nov 27, 2008 tucked away at the bottom there is also the meaning present in a surreptitiously altered form and it is that meaning of cook that was used in the coinage of the phrase cook the books. As well as making me feel hungry, watching the contestants create culinary masterpieces got me thinking about common idioms and other phrases in. To do something by hook or by crook is to do it by whatever means are necessary be they fair or foul. Or knowingly providing incorrect information in a companies financial statements. Oct 21, 2014 cook the books has a dozen meanings but the main one is fudging the accounts.
To cook with gas do well, act or think correctly is 1930s jive talk. Both the literal and figurative idiom meanings of bookworm are explained. Cooking the books synonyms, cooking the books pronunciation, cooking the books translation, english dictionary definition of cooking the books. The expression cook the books refers to the practice of arranging company financials in a manner that tends to call attention to positive data but obscures or greatly minimizes the ability to identify negative data. Hook is a word with many meanings and as a consequence it appears in numerous english phrases get ones hooks into, hook, line and sinker, onoff the hook, sling your hook. Too many people involved in it to cook the books and not get caught. Cookbook buyers are staying loyal to print books, according to research conducted by bowker book research. To cook the books definition and meaning collins english. Cooking the books is an interesting idiom with its roots in a seventeenth century definition of the word cook. So here are some idioms and phrasal verbs that are often used in general and business english. Bookworm meaning with idiom origin and examples of use. Like many others, i was recently glued to my tv wondering who was going to be crowned masterchef 2015.
Heres a list of similar words from our thesaurus that you can use instead. The idiom chief cook and bottle washer is used to refer to someone who is in power in an organization and oversees virtually every aspect of the organization it is used particularly to refer to small businesses or other smallscale. Click the link for the full money idioms illustration. Cookbooks online database access over one million recipes online. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Cooking light names the 100 best cookbooks in a variety of categories. Gas cookers began to replace woodburners around 1915, and the actual phrase was used by hollywood radio comedians around december 1939, and then appropriated by gas companies to promote gas cooking from around 1941 onwards. The allusion appears to be the changing of one thing into another, as in the conversion of food ingredients into meals.
Cooked the books definition of cooked the books by the free. Cook the books definition of cook the books by merriamwebster. Cook the books is an idiom describing fraudulent activities performed by corporations in order to falsify their financial statements. Cookbook, collection of recipes, instructions, and information about the preparation and serving of foods. In 1840 there were 989 cook families living in new york. Typically, cooking the books involves augmenting financial. I couldnt possibly finish my whats cooking in the kitchen series without sharing some cooking idioms with you. Cook the books definition in the cambridge english dictionary. Cook the books has a dozen meanings but the main one is fudging the accounts. Cook definition in the cambridge english dictionary.
Later, cookbooks were written with the middle class in mind and they began turning up in more homes. These are books that have either stood the test of time or are indispensable for a modern home cook. The dictionary of idioms and their origins examines over 400 such phrases, tracing each one. Mastering the elements of good cooking, by samin nosrat 2017 reference books, almost by definition, arent meant to. A book containing recipes and other information about the preparation of food. To cook the books means to create a false record of financial transactions in order to hide embezzlement or other shady transactions. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations. The deliberate distorting of a firms financial accounts, often with the aim of avoiding the payment of tax. Cook the books definition of cook the books by merriam. At its best, a cookbook is also a chronicle and treasury of the fine art of cooking, an art whose masterpiecescreated only to be consumedwould otherwise be lost. The oxford english dictionary lists a dozen or so meanings of the verb to cook, ranging from prepare opium for use to make the call of a cuckoo and, of course, prepare food by the action of heat.
See verb table origin cook 2 old english coc, from latin coquus, from coquere to. A metaphor for cooking, whereby ingredients are changed, altered and improved by the process. Go to our new redesigned website this new website has search features such as recipe ranking, shopping lists, save to cell phone, and more. Virgil young cook 18481922, american confederate veteran and planter. Cooking the books definition of cooking the books by the. Whats the origin of the phrase by hook or by crook.
Victoria cook, former world champion archer who represented the united states. For example, the corporation may make public data that spotlights the sales figures for a recent period, while failing to indicate how operating and raw materials expenses cut deeply into the revenue generated from those sales. While maintaining scholarly accuracy, the authors inspire the reader with their love and enthusiasm for the curiosities of the english language. A term used to refer to someone who is in charge of practically everything within an organization. Their servants were not supposed to know how to read a cookbook, so the mistress of the household would read the directions as the servant prepared the mixture. Tucked away at the bottom there is also the meaning present in a surreptitiously altered form and it is that meaning of cook that was used in the coinage of the phrase cook the books.
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