Sc. and U.S. Also cooky, cookey. [prob. a. Du. koekje dim. of koek cake: this is app. certain for U.S.; but for Scotland historical evidence has not been found.] In Scotland the usual name for a baker’s plain bun; in U.S. usually a small flat sweet cake, but locally a name for small cakes of various form with or without sweetening.
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scot. (1760), II. xxiv. 272. In the Low-Country the Cakes are called Cookies.
1808. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 368. Those notable cakes, hight new-year cookies.
1810. Evening Post (N.Y.), 14 Dec., 3/2.
| But of all the fine presents your Saintship can find, | |
| Oh! leave not the famous big Cookies! behind. |
1816. Scott, Antiq., xv. Muckle obliged to ye for your cookies, Mrs. Shortcake.
1852. D. G. Mitchell, Dream Life, 97. Very dry cookies, spiced with caraway seeds.
1870. B. Harte, Luck Roar. Camp, 227 (Farmer). He lost every hoof and hide, I’ll bet a cookey!
b. Comb., as cookie-shine (humorous), a tea-party (cf. tea-fight).
1863. Reade, Hard Cash, v. Conversaziones, cookey-shines, etcetera.
1867. N. & Q., Ser. III. XII. 195/2. From the frequent appearance of these [cookies] at tea-parties, the latter are irreverently spoken of as Cookie Shines.
