Cook \Cook\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cooked; p. pr & vb. n. Cooking.]

1. To prepare, as food, by boiling, roasting, baking, broiling, etc.; to make suitable for eating, by the agency of fire or heat.

2. To concoct or prepare; hence, to tamper with or alter; to garble; -- often with up; as, to cook up a story; to cook an account. [Colloq.]

They all of them receive the same advices from abroad, and very often in the same words; but their way of cooking it is so different. --Addison.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)