Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (mainly US) the head cook.

1759		J. Townley High Life Below Stairs I iii: [Scene, The Servant’s Hall] Here is Cooky coming.
1786		W. Cowper Letters and Prose (1981) II 516: There is a little room close to your own for Mrs. Eaton, and there is a room for Cookee and Samuel.
1798		‘The Blue Vein’ in Hilaria 59: First Molly the cook-maid he took by the hand / From her greasy palm, told her what fortune had plann’d / [...] / ‘Indeed,’ cried the cooky, ‘how can you tell that?’.
1800		T. Dibdin Jew and the Doctor II i: While master is giving cooky orders, I’ll have a peep through the key-hole.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) I 44: The cut-throats are asleep; cooky and the black will be snoring ere long.
1818		J.R. Planché Amoroso, King of Little Britain 13: Well-a-day for my cookee and me.
1824		J. Wight Mornings in Bow St. 148: The blood gushed forth in a torrent; and, whilst poor cookey was looking for his teeth, complainant called in the watch.
1837		‘The Story of a Shipwreck’ Old Ironside 87: ‘Then cookie and I were the bait you were after, Jolly.’ [...] ‘Why yes sir,’ said Jem; ‘and we are shut up here without any provender.’.
1846		Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) 4 July 218/2: We embarked [...] in company with [...] a cookie who was lord and master of the culinary department [DA].
1853		T. Haliburton Sam Slick’s Wise Saws I 162: Well, cookey, you are right for oncet in your life.
1857		Worcs. Chron. 21 Jan. 2/7: Cookee seemed to have done her duty.
1866		Wild Boys of London II 148/2: I didn’t go arter cooky, as it was cooky as was arter me. I was arter the cold meat and wegetables. [Ibid.] 235/2: How is Pompey ’Gustus’s mouth, cookee?
1867		G.E. Clark Seven Years of a Sailor’s Life 151: Good bye, Cookie.
1876		M.E. Braddon Dead Men’s Shoes I 289: ‘Hi, cooky,’ bawls the footman.
1880		‘Erro’ Squattermania 243: They sat down and bolted their tucker, growlin’ the same as usual; but cookey took it all quiet.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 7 June 47/2: Cooky remains faithul to the old loves of her class.
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 21 Dec. 6/2: The cookee [...] being engaged in washing the dishes.
1890		H. Nisbet ‘Bail Up!’ 50: ‘But me going to be cooky,’ replied Shan demurely. ‘Cook be hanged!’.
1895		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 27 Apr. 4/5: What was cookie holding the flagpole up for the other morning.
1897		Turner & Santley [perf. Maud Santley] ‘The “Bobbies” of the Queen’ 🎵 Bold policemen keep the peace men, / Oh don’t the cookies love us.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Dec. 32/1: On Saturday the manager got back and looked around, / And cookie begged a billet for his friend.
1902		S.E. White Blazed Trail 26: The cookee had built a little camp fire, around and over which he had grouped big fifty-pound lard-tins, half full of hot things to eat.
1915		F. Garrett diary 19 Aug. 🌐 Our cookie begrimed with grease and soot and wearing a felt which [...] had been used pretty frequently as a pad to lift pots off the fire, and looking a trick generally.
1915		Washington Herald (DC) 28 Nov. 27/1: ‘All right cookee [...] you’re a willin’ hand’.
1915		‘The Buccaneers’ Seven Seas Sept. in Lomax & Lomax Amer. Ballads and Folk Songs (1934) n.p.: The mate was fixed by the bo’sun’s pike [...] And the cookie’s throat was marked belike.
1922		P.A. Rollins Cowboy 165: The cook who, if, as commonly, white, was to his face called ‘cookie’.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 113: Say, cooky, I’ve heard about your pies.
1928		D. Lawley Hustling Hobo 78: ‘Better come out cookee,’ hailed the foreman.
1935		E. Freeman ‘The Whirling Hub’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 23 Mar. 15/1: What Malden cookey is trying to gain the love and affection of Eldood .
1936		West. Mail (Perth) 25 June 7/1: Yes, let me ’elp you, Cookie.
1944		H. Hunt East of Farewell 41: You afraid to be out here alone, cooky?
1952		G. Meek ‘The Ballad of the Rouseabout’ Station Days in Maoriland 94: We piled the bunker to the brim, / The wood for Cookie chopped.
1956		H. Gold Man Who Was Not With It (1965) 235: A fat-armed cookie with speckled baldness on his biceps.
1961		P.A. Whitney Blue Fire 49: ‘I’ve found a cookie for you,’ Mara said [...] and Susan remembered the familiar name used for cooks. [Ibid.] 65: Cookie came to tell them lunch was served.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 65: ‘You got something nice for me today, Cookie?’ ‘Veal cutlet.’.

2. (US) a cook’s assistant.

1914		G.A. England ‘Rural Locutions of Maine and Northern New Hampshire’ in DN IV:ii 70: cookee, n. A cook’s helper, in the lumber camps.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 203: Cookee – The second in command to the main stew-builder.
1944		W. Blair Tall Tale America 174: Paul always gave any cook as many cookees to help as he needed.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

3. see cookie n.² (2)