NUKE

transitive verb (Lifestyle and Leisure) In US slang, to cook or heat (food) in a microwave oven. Etymology: A transferred use of the slang verb nuke, which since the late sixties has meant ' to attack or destroy with nuclear weapons'. The transfer is explained by the fact that both nuclear bombs and microwave ovens generate electromagnetic radiation (although of very different kinds!). 'This potato', he said listlessly, 'is undernuked.' Half a pulse later and it was dropped back onto his plate like a spent cartridge. Now it was overnuked. Martin Amis London Fields (1989; paperback ed. 1990), p. 400 It was a perfect night to nuke some popcorn and curl up in front of a Duraflame. New Yorker 11 Dec. 1989, p. 14