cook the books

idiomatic phrase

informal
: to alter official accounting records in order to deceive or mislead
Congress cooked the books with phony spending cuts and accounting gimmickry to appear to reduce the federal deficit.Colleen O'Connor

Examples of cook the books in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In any case, the whistleblower alleged that one of the luxury label’s vendors revealed that Alexis required the vendor to cook the books and give the brand an invoice with lower unit prices than the actual unit prices that were paid. Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019 That in turn would likely make Kenya’s leaders less inclined to engage in violent repression or feel the need to cook the books to hoard a massive campaign war chest to avoid a loss at the next election. Michelle Gavin, Foreign Affairs, 23 July 2024 Most crimes of this type involve defendants who cook the books to cover-up embezzlement or other financial crime; arguably far less serious to society than Trump’s conduct. Ron Kuby, New York Daily News, 23 June 2024 Governments of all stripes remain preoccupied by such statistics, and many leaders feel compelled to cook the books. Luis R. Martínez, Foreign Affairs, 10 May 2023 The Government alleges that the failure to estimate project costs led Austal managers to cook the books in an effort to avoid disciplinary action from company leadership in Australia. Craig Hooper, Forbes, 2 Apr. 2023 Finally, at the core of Cuomo’s misbehavior is the arrogance of power, which was also evident in his efforts to cook the books on nursing-home deaths that resulted from his reckless COVID-19 policies. The Editors, National Review, 3 Aug. 2021 That included Robert Knight, who helped cook the books of the South Sea Company, fled England and landed in an Antwerp prison for a time. Jon Hilsenrath, WSJ, 7 May 2021 Saddled with insurmountable debt, Elder Seidel pressured Hicks to cook the books. Matt Cabral, EW.com, 3 Aug. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cook the books.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cook the books was in 1850

Dictionary Entries Near cook the books

Cite this Entry

“Cook the books.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cook%20the%20books. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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