cooker meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

cooker

noun

US /ˈkʊkɚ/ · UK /ˈkʊkə/

Etymology From cook + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix) (apple; one who is cooked).

8 senses

Ireland, UK A cookstove.

Ireland, UK An appliance or utensil for cooking food.

Except in compounds

One who cooks.

[…] I am a true † cooker of men, that is to ſay, I not only dreſs and prepare ſuch vile eatables as theſe, but that green creature, called man, I kill, and cut in pieces, aye, and devour him too, heart and all.1780, [usually not considered to be by Lucian], “The Ass”, in Thomas Francklin, transl., The Works of Lucian, volume II, London: […] T. Cadell, […], page 127:
And, if we may believe the tale, / Her canny hand will ſcarcely fail, / Whate’er ſhe tries, to help or heal, / She’ll ſeldom blunder; / If ſhe be cooker of the kail, / She’ll gar us wonder.1788, Robert Galloway, “On the Birth of a Seventh Daughter, Who was born on the 10th April, 1788”, in Poems, Epistles and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], Glasgow: […] W. Bell, for the Author, […], stanza IV, page 121:

4 more examples

She was, in sooth, a most delicious cooker of delicious tit-bits.1810, John Brewsterr, “The Retorts”, in Yorkshire Characters: […], volume I, London: […] J. F. Hughes, […], page 115:
“A most excellent cooker of eggs, is Mrs. J.,” I said to my companion (silent companions are often the best of company); “most excellent. Few people can be relied upon to always cook one’s eggs properly, but Mrs. J. is one of the few.”1898 February, Canning Williams, “The Chickens’ Parade. A Story for Children.”, in George Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume XV, number 86, London: George Newnes, Ltd., […], page 231, column 1:
As the hon. Provincial Treasurer knows, he is the greatest cooker of the books, and when he leaves here he can get a job as a chef at the King Edward hotel—1966 May 31, Legislature of Ontario Debates, Toronto, Ont.: The Queen’s Printer, page 4098, column 2:
“[…] I know how to cook a steak, if you don’t.” “I am, sir, one of the world’s great cookers of steak,” Charley said.1981, William Edmund Butterworth, Flunking Out, Four Winds Press, →ISBN, page 120:

Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of cooking apple.

For the British market, apples are classed as early, mid-season, or late, and subdivided into eaters or cookers.2004, Laura Mason, Food Culture in Great Britain, page 94:

Australia, Slang A person who makes or uses illicit drugs, especially methamphetamine or cannabis.

Slang The container in which recreational drugs are prepared.

[…] does not know how to pick up the liquid from the cooker, and he asks someone else to use his rig to put his part in his rig.1995, Reyes Ramos, An Ethnographic Study of Heroin Abuse by Mexican Americans in San Antonio, Texas, page 36:

Australia, Derogatory, Slang A person who is cooked in the head; a crazy person.

Australia, Derogatory, Slang A conspiracy theorist, especially one who is involved in politics.

Derived terms: AGA cooker, cookeress, cooker hood, electric cooker, gas cooker, multicooker, multifunctional cooker, pressure cooker, pressure-cooker, rice cooker, self-cooker, slow cooker, steam cooker, tommy cooker