Meaning & use
cooker
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableBritish
A large kitchen appliance with burners on top and usually an oven underneath, used for cooking food.
Grammar: Countable: one cooker, two cookers. Do not use it for the person who cooks — that is a cook.
Patterns
- a gas cooker
- an electric cooker
- cook something on the cooker
Their new kitchen has a gas cooker with a separate grill.
I left the soup on the cooker while I answered the phone.
The cooker needs cleaning before we have guests.
nouncountable
A machine or pot designed to cook one particular kind of food, used mainly in compounds.
Grammar: Almost always used in a compound such as rice cooker or pressure cooker, not on its own with this meaning.
Patterns
- a rice cooker
- a pressure cooker
- a slow cooker
A rice cooker makes perfect rice without any watching.
She put the beans in the pressure cooker for twenty minutes.
We bought a slow cooker so dinner is ready when we get home.
nouncountableinformalBritish
A fruit that is still hard and not ready to eat, especially in the phrase a cooker.
Grammar: Mainly British and informal; used of fruit such as apples or pears that must be cooked rather than eaten raw.
Patterns
- a cooker of a pear
These pears are cookers, so poach them with sugar.
The apples from that tree are cookers, not eating apples.
Word forms
| plural | cookers |
|---|
Common combinations
- gas cooker
- The flat comes with a gas cooker and a small fridge.
- electric cooker
- An electric cooker takes longer to heat up than a gas one.
- rice cooker
- Measure the water carefully when you use a rice cooker.
- pressure cooker
- Cooking lentils in a pressure cooker saves a lot of time.
- slow cooker
- A slow cooker is ideal for stews on cold days.
- on the cooker
- There is a pan of milk on the cooker.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stove
- The usual American word for the same machine; British speakers normally say cooker for the whole appliance.
- range
- A large stove with an oven, common in American English and in shops selling kitchen equipment.
- oven
- Only the closed box part where you bake; a cooker usually includes both the oven and the burners on top.
Word family
Commonly confused: cooker or cook? cooker or cooker hood?
cooker vs cook
A cook is the person who prepares food, while a cooker is the machine. Saying 'My mother is a good cooker' sounds wrong; say 'a good cook'.
cooker vs cooker hood
A cooker hood is the fan above the cooker that removes steam and smells; it is not the cooker itself.
Practice
In British English, which sentence uses 'cooker' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A cooker is the kitchen appliance, so buying one for the kitchen is correct. Options 0 and 1 confuse it with 'cook', the person who prepares food. Option 2 is possible only for a slow cooker or pressure cooker, and 'baked it' with just 'the cooker' is not the usual British use.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cooker”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.