cookie

American  

[kook-ee] / ˈkʊk i /

Sometimes cooky

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.

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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.

idioms

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

cookie British  

/ 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

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cookie Scientific  

/ kk′ē /

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.

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cookie More Idioms  

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

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Etymology

Origin of cookie

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

Explanation

A cookie is a round, sweet baked good that's often eaten with a glass of milk. You might bake three dozen cookies to sell at your swim team's bake sale. In Britain, it's a biscuit, and in the US it's a cookie. In both cases, it's a small cake that's baked on a cookie sheet. Your favorite cookies might be chocolate chip — or maybe you're more of an oatmeal raisin cookie type. When you see cookie in the context of computers, it means a bit of data that's sent from a website to your browser. This type of cookie helps your computer remember passwords and web pages it's visited.

Example Sentences

Based in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé also makes hot chocolate and cookie dough, and has stakes in popular brands including Cheerios and Häagen-Dazs.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

Critics argue that this policy clearly isn't working, if the terms and conditions are unreadable, and cookie choices are an irritation rather than a valued defence.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2026

Another example is cookie butter that was trending, especially with the younger demographic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026

Soon after that, I mixed up brownie batter and cookie dough.

From Salon • Jan. 30, 2026

Tano almost visibly deflates, as if he’s been caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Related Words

• biscuit
• wafer