Use of the word "multiple" [closed]

Multiple definition - ">"having or involving several parts, elements, or members

Several definition - ">"more than two but not many

                                                           _via Google Search_

Multiple definition - ">"something in units of more than one or two

                                                           _via Webster_

Can I use the word multiple to mean exactly two things? I know it is not clear and can even be sneaky, but would it be flat out wrong? Would I be lying or simply abusing the word (or would I be well within my rights) if I said I had multiple cookies in the jar when really only two were left in the jar?

As Jim's comment says, Merriam Webster's definition is as follows:

Multiple

1. consisting of, including, or involving more than one.

However, Oxford's definition leans towards suggesting a larger number is implied:

Multiple

1. Having or involving several parts, elements, or members.

   1.1 Numerous and often varied.

So, probably safe to say that although it wouldn't be a complete lie to use the word "multiple" to mean "two", it would be quite misleading to the reader. Whether you use it or not depends on your intentions.

Describing two cookies as “multiple cookies” is factually incorrect : a lie, if asserted deliberately. This follows not from the minimum number required, but from the indefiniteness required. Some writers consider multiple to begin at one, others at two, but they are quite consistent about using it only when the quantity is not definitely known. Nobody that I am aware of would use it of a known quantity. This has been true ever since the word was borrowed from Latin. Consider the following sentences in which the author contrasted a multiple quantity with a known quantity:

(1647) That Kings should bow down their necks under the double or rather multiple yoke of Pope and Archbishops.

(1797) M. Magellan thinks, that the aphronitrum is not only a triple but a multiple salt.

(1867) The double and multiple stars shine with differently-coloured light.

If you want to avoid the lie, maybe the best you could do is to say the cookie jar holds multiple cookies (a statement about its capacity, not its contents).

Sentences taken from A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, volume VI: M–N: 1902. (This source includes plenty of historical examples of the use of multiple to mean “two or more”, so that usage is well established and cannot be called wrong.)