n.
(pl. cookies)
- N. Amer. a sweet biscuit.
- informal a person of a specified kind:
she's a tough cookie.
- Scottish a plain bun.
- Computing a packet of data sent by an Internet server to a browser and used to identify the user or track their access to the server.
Phrase
- that's the way the cookie crumbles
informal, chiefly N. Amer. that's the situation, and it must be accepted, however undesirable.
Etymology
C18: from Du. koekje ‘little cake’, dimin. of koek.