cooking with gas

English

Etymology

From the suggestion, heavily advertised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that stoves using natural gas as a fuel cook more effectively than, for instance, wood-burning or electric stoves.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Phrase

cooking with gas

  1. (idiomatic) Functioning particularly effectively; achieving something substantial.
    With the updated software, I was really cooking with gas. I got the project done in half the time.

Usage notes

  • Grammatically, a use of the "-ing" form of cook + the prepositional phrase "with gas". Together with a form of be this forms a progressive verb predicate. Only rarely are other forms used in this idiomatic sense.
  • In the United Kingdom, the phrase "cooking on gas" is more usually used.

See also

References

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