concoct

present singular third person concocts · participle present concocting · participle past concocted · past concocted

1. To prepare something by mixing various ingredients, especially to prepare food for cooking.

   to concoct a potion

   4 more examples

   to concoct a new dish

   Their only regret was, that Mademoiselle Carrara would taste none of the conserves and the pastry they were so busily concocting.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 103

   Pecan shells make good fuel, and they are used by leather tanners to concoct their foul-smelling compounds, and sometimes we mix them with charcoal in hand-soap to make a really good scrubbing agent

   2007, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Well of Tears: Book Two of The Crowthistle Chronicles, Tor Books, →ISBN

   The twelve include Jill (she used to be a chicken-and-potatoes girl, but now she's willing to try whatever I concoct), […]

   2014, Lisa Howard, Healthier Gluten-Free, MA: Fair Winds Press, →ISBN, page 171

   Synonyms: prepare, mix

2. figurativelyTo contrive something using skill or ingenuity.

   to concoct a cunning plan

   2 more examples

   On the other hand, the finest argument ever concocted, the concentrated wisdom drawn from men and books, will fail to charm, like the hilarity of a dance, or the splendour of a gala, the young, gay girl, whose spirits are exuberant, and whose heart is untouched by care, and who, a dozen years afterwards, would, in calm cheerfulness, listen lovingly, and examine carefully, the pleaded reasons offered to her judgment.

   1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 34

   He had two beautiful daughters who fell in love with men he approved of and he wanted to give them the most lavish double wedding he could concoct.

   2005, Jean Ferris, Into the Wind: Part One, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 161

   Synonyms: contrive, plot, scheme, ferment, brew

3. obsoleteTo digest.

   For the parts of an Embryo are nourished and encreased before it hath a Stomach to concoct any thing, and yet in a perfect Fœtus none can deny that the Stomach does concoct […]

   1703, Thomas Gibson, The Anatomy of Humane Bodies Epitomized, page 297

plural concocts

1. nonstandardrareA concoction.

   I don't suppose these creatures are the concoct of your mind?" La Tour said. "If they're real, then Nature there is warped, no doubt by oppressive dampness and heat."

   2006, Wendel Messer, The Conquest of Canada: A Novel of Discovery, Gravenhurst, O.N.: Breller Books, →ISBN, page 27

comparative more concoct · superlative most concoct

1. obsoleteDigested or affected by heat.