cookie

Sometimes cook·y

[kook-ee]

noun

plural

cookies 

1. a small, usually round and flat cake, the size of an individual portion, made from stiff, sweetened dough, and baked.

2. Informal.,  dear; sweetheart (a term of address, usually connoting affection).

3. Slang.

   1. a person, usually of a specified character or type.

      a smart cookie;

      a tough cookie.

   2. an alluring young woman.

4. Also called browser cookie. Also called http cookie;. Digital Technology.,  a file or segment of data that identifies a unique user over time and across interactions with a website, sent by the web server through a browser, stored on a user’s hard drive, and sent back to the server each time the browser requests a web page.

   Your browser will run more efficiently after you clear the cache and cookies.

5. South Atlantic States (chiefly North Carolina).,  a doughnut.

6. Scot.,  a bun.

verb (used with object)

cookied , cookieing, cookying .

1. Digital Technology.,  to assign a cookie or cookies to (a website user).

   I'm not really comfortable being cookied all the time.

cookie

/ ˈkʊkɪ /

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): biscuit. a small flat dry sweet or plain cake of many varieties, baked from a dough

2. a Scot word for bun

3. informal,  a person

   smart cookie

4. computing a piece of data downloaded to a computer by a website, containing details of the preferences of that computer's user which identify the user when revisiting that website

5. informal,  matters are inevitably or unalterably so

cookie

1. A collection of information, usually including a username and the current date and time, stored on the local computer of a person using the World Wide Web, used chiefly by websites to identify users who have previously registered or visited the site. Cookies are used to relate one computer transaction to a later one.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cookie¹

First recorded in 1750–55; from Dutch koekie, dialectal variant of koekje, equivalent to koek “biscuit, cake” + -je diminutive suffix; cake

Word History and Origins

Origin of cookie¹

C18: from Dutch koekje, diminutive of koek cake

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. toss / spill one's cookies, to vomit.

see hand in the till (cookie jar); that's how the ball bounces (cookie crumbles); toss one's cookies.

Example Sentences

“A cookie!” shouts a child wearing a paper owl crown.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I felt sheepish when my partner caught me sneaking a cookie shortly after I had encouraged him to forgo dessert so we could “be healthy together.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The company also has seasonal offerings, including a cookie butter latte and a candied cherry energy drink.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Fans of rocky road ice cream can rejoice because the flavor — chocolate ice cream swirled with nuts and marshmallows — will be available in Girl Scout cookie form next year.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

By the end, I reward myself: a bowl of pasta held back from the batch, a few cookie dough balls baked off just for me.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• biscuit 
• wafer