cook up

verb

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

noun

1. (in the Caribbean) a dish consisting of mixed meats, rice, shrimps, and sometimes vegetables

Idioms and Phrases

Fabricate, concoct, as in She's always cooking up some excuse . [ Colloquial ; mid-1700s]

Example Sentences

No matter how you dress them, whatever complicated motivations and methodologies you cook up, they’re all cut from the same pattern.

From Los Angeles Times

He cooked up a plan that would not only lead to the recovery of his bike within 48 hours - but also to the arrest and criminal charge of the man thought to have stolen it.

From BBC

The four-week partnership, which was announced alongside the book’s release, allows fans to cook up several recipes, including Fried Chicken & Gravy, Sirloin Steak with Blue Cheese Butter, Country Fried Trout and more.

From Salon

Having earned the nickname “Chef Hortiz,” for the way he’s cooking up transactions, the general manager is preparing his next dishes.

From Los Angeles Times

Conservatives have also mastered the intricacies of circuit-shopping, the dark art of placing the nuttiest legal theories cooked up in Federalist Society hothouses before the most rabidly ideological judges.

From Salon