cooking up
Preparing a scheme
Cooking up means devising or concocting something, often with connotations of scheming or improvisation: What are you cooking up in there?
They were cooking up a plan to surprise her.
The phrase suggests preparation happening out of sight, like something simmering in a pot.
It can be neutral—cooking up a batch of cookies—but often implies mischief or illicit activity: cooking up an excuse, cooking up a batch of meth.
- preparingMaking ready beforehand
- makingProducing or constructing
- whipping upMaking something quickly
- creatingMaking something new
- from scratchStarting with nothing prepared
contriving · stirring · hatching · master plan · fabricating · tall tale · cover story · concocting · producing · scheming · sauteeing · mixture · simmering · grilling · frying · improvising · roasting · steaming
- creatingcreating, inventing, producing, generating, making
cooking upeating
Ingesting sustenance
consuming · serving · devouring · plating · cleaning up
cooking upabandoning
Leaving permanently behind
scrapping · exposing · revealing · foiling · uncovering
cook, cooking, cooked, cooks, cooker, cookery, cookbook, uncooked, upping