What does cooking mean?

What does cooking mean?
The term 'cooking' means preparing food or other substance, usually for consumption, as in eating. It is frequently used to describe the preparation of food specifically by applying heat, but also describes making cold dishes such as salads, sandwiches and so on: 'He is cooking a fantastic dinner,'; 'The caterers are cooking a cold buffet.'

It can be used in combination with 'up': 'We're cooking up a grand brunch for Sunday.'

It can also be used to describe manufacturing, fabricating or processing, usually of food.

'Cooking' has various other related meanings, generally considered to be slang or informal usage, but routinely acceptable conversationally at all levels of English communication.

It is used in the sense of falsifying something, as in 'cooking the books', meaning to alter financial records in such a way as to mislead anyone checking on transactions; this usage generally denotes theft or fraudulent activity of some kind.

To 'cook up an excuse,' or 'cook up a story' means to concoct a lie, or to be creative with the truth: 'He's good at cooking up an impressive CV.'

'Cooking' can also mean 'happening'; 'proceeding'; 'doing well', as in 'What's cooking at the club tonight?'; 'Now we're getting things done: we're really cooking!'; 'We're hot! Our team is cooking!'

'Cooking with gas,' as in 'Now we're cooking with gas!' means things are coming together, things are happening according to plan, or starting to work.

The word can also mean 'spoiled'; 'ruined'; 'wrecked', especially when teamed with the word 'goose', as in 'They were caught red-handed; it's really cooked their goose!'