bake

[beyk]

verb (used with object)

baked, baking 

1. to cook by dry heat in an oven or on heated metal or stones.

2. to harden by heat.

   to bake pottery in a kiln.

3. to dry by, or subject to heat.

   The sun baked the land.

verb (used without object)

baked, baking 

1. to bake bread, a casserole, etc.

2. to become baked.

   The cake will bake in about half an hour.

3. to be subjected to heat.

   The lizard baked on the hot rocks.

noun

1. a social occasion at which the chief food is baked.

2. Scot.,  cracker.

verb phrase

1. bake in / into

   1. Computers.,  to incorporate (a feature) as part of a system or piece of software or hardware while it is still in development.

      The location-tracking service is baked in the new app.

      Security features come baked into the operating system.

   2. to include as an inseparable or permanent part.

      Baked into the price of the product is the cost of advertising.

bake

/ beɪk /

verb

1. (tr) to cook by dry heat in or as if in an oven

2. (intr) to cook bread, pastry, etc, in an oven

3. to make or become hardened by heat

4. informal,  (intr) to be extremely hot, as in the heat of the sun

noun

1. a party at which the main dish is baked

2. a batch of things baked at one time

3. a kind of biscuit

4. a small flat fried cake

Other Word Forms

• outbake verb (used with object)
• overbake verb
• prebake verb
• rebake verb (used with object)
• unbaked adjective
• underbake verb (used with object)
• well-baked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bake¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English baken, Old English bacan; cognate with Old High German bahhan, Old Norse baka; akin to Dutch bakken, German backen, Greek phṓgein “to roast”; from Proto-Indo-European extended root bhēg-, bhōg- “to warm, roast”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bake¹

Old English bacan ; related to Old Norse baka , Old High German bahhan to bake, Greek phōgein to parch, roast

Example Sentences

I kept this a snacking cake — single-layered, baked in a 9×13-inch pan, so it’s easy to slice, serve and eat.

Read more on Salon

While the new fees are often already baked into product prices, some goods land in America without the tariffs being paid.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

If you feel alone in your baking struggles, fret not!

Read more on Salon

A year after working his final shift on the blast furnace, ex-steelworker Levi Roberts is operating two smaller ovens - baking pizzas - in a converted horse-box in Port Talbot.

Read more on BBC

But there’s not enough motivation baked into the big third-act twist, and the performances just aren’t strong enough to suggest anything deeper.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• heat 
• melt 
• simmer 
• stew 
• warm