cook (redirected from cooking goose)

be chief cook and bottle washer (humorous)

to be the person who is responsible for cooking meals and washing the pans and dishes. It's my birthday party, so Alan is chief cook and bottle washer tonight.

See also: bottle, chief

cook someone's goose (informal)

if you cook someone's goose, you do something that spoils their plans and prevents them from succeeding. Disgruntled employees cooked Blackledge's goose by leaking private documents to the press.

See also: goose

cook the books (informal)

to record false information in the accounts of an organization, especially in order to steal money. One of the directors had been cooking the books and the firm had been losing money for years. (usually in continuous tenses)

See also: book

Too many cooks (spoil the broth).

something that you say which means that if too many people try to work on the same piece of work, they will spoil it. There were so many people working on the same project, no one knew what anyone else was doing. I think it was a case of too many cooks.

See also: many

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cook the books

to keep false financial records for an organization. We're not going to cook the books or lie about the health of our business.

See also: book

cook up something

to invent something to produce a result you want. Freddy cooked up a great story so that Jane wouldn't know she was on her way to a surprise party for her birthday.

Usage notes: often cook up means to invent something that is dishonest or illegal: I'd like to find out who cooked this scheme up.

Etymology: based on the idea of cooking food to make a meal