cook up a storm

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cook up a storm (third-person singular simple present cooks up a storm, present participle cooking up a storm, simple past and past participle cooked up a storm)

1. (informal) To do a large amount of cooking at once; to prepare a great deal of cooked food.
   • 1997, Susan Merrell, The Accidental Bond:

     When I started to lose weight, she started cooking up a storm.

   • 2005, Sondra Gorney, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?: The Life of Composer Jay Gorney, →ISBN:

     Karen and Dan luxuriated in the outdoors, and Carrie, too, enjoyed being in a house — small as it was — and cooking up a storm for us.

2. To cause a storm (weather phenomenon).
   • 1996, B. J. Hoff, Storm at Daybreak, →ISBN, page 168:

     "Sounds like it's cooking up a storm outside." Jennifer nodded.

   • 2004, Jack Fritscher, Anton Szandor La Vey, Popular Witchcraft: Straight from the Witch's Mouth, →ISBN, page 101:

     In the time of the Armada the British witches got together and cooked up a storm. They did it again when Hitler was on the way.

   • 2012, D.J. MacHale, Pendragon Books 6-10, →ISBN:

     I briefly wondered if Saint Dane could possibly cook up a storm, but decided that as powerful as this guy was, he did have his limits. I didn't think he could change the weather.

3. (figurative) To create a stormy situation; agitate or enrage.
   • 2009, John Cowan, Hawk Rising: Soaring on the Wings of Desire, →ISBN, page 11:

     Given this information, my imagination was cooking up a storm of other disrupting possibilities. I slept badly and woke up sick to my stomach.

   • 2012, Demian Allan, The Astrological Dynamics of the Universe, →ISBN, page 42:

     Air and water can cook up a storm if left too much to their own devices.

   • 2013, Jessica Thompson, Three Little Words: They mean so much, →ISBN:

     Love and fear were now dehumanised products, trapped beneath his skin but cooking up a storm inside.

   • 2014, Curt Soul, Tep - The Journey Begins, →ISBN:

     It was clear that Destiny's kindness to Tep, was cooking up a storm of jealousy and anger inside Sou.

   • 2014, Caitlín Matthews, The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook, →ISBN:

     Domestic disputes are common with this card, as are petty arguments, aggravations, or things spoken in anger. Rod is largely inflammatory in effect and cooks up a storm over time, like when a person finally snaps after repeated criticism.

   • 2015, Kate Bruce, Igniting the Heart: Preaching and Imagination, →ISBN, page 188:

     Have we the wisdom to pray for a storm and for the faith to ride it out with Christ? Perhaps we lack courage - but it's worth remembering that a calm life can be boring, dull, predictable and empty, and storms can be exciting, wild, energizing, invigorating and transforming. Jesus – cook up a storm and lead us on.

4. (idiomatic) To make a big fuss, generate a lot of unnecessary talk or activity; make a scene.
   • 1986, Africa Special Report: Bulletin of the Institute of African American Relations, page 51:

     Iranians cook up a storm in Harare: Iran's President Ali Khamenei, on the final leg of a six-nation tour in mid- January, became embroiled in what the Zimbabwe Herald termed an "unprecedented diplomatic incident" when he refused to attend a banquet held in his honor by Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

   • 2001, The Postal Record - Volume 114, page 49:

     Well the weather is similar, the hot dang LLVs are still cooking up a storm yet we hardly get the old Hill Street Blues adage of "Let's be careful out there" and any form of liquid is noticable by its absence.

   • 2013, Nicola Marsh, Banish, →ISBN:

     If she was mad at me, she'd frown, stomp around a lot, cook up a storm, then talk when she'd calmed down.

   • 2015, Tim Hannigan, Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis, →ISBN:

     The British, by this time ensconced in Batavia, cooked up a storm of manufactured outrage in response and despatched a fleet to Palembang.

5. To make a splash; to create a spectacle.
   • 1991, Fruits of the Earth: Flowers and Fruit in Needlepoint, page 86:

     Kaffe is really cooking up a storm here, with polychromatic fireworks in shimmering primaries exploding and rioting all over the canvas.

   • 1991, Rapport - Volume 16, Issues 3-17, page 49:

     A Rogers original, Short Stop has the sax section led by Bill Perkins cooking up a storm.

   • 2017, Mila Summers, Wake Me with a Kiss, →ISBN:

     Well, if that's the way it is, I won't ask for further details. Would you like to cook up a storm on the dance floor with me?