bake
verb (used with object)
to cook by dry heat in an oven or on heated metal or stones.
had been baking
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past perfect progressiveof bake.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Thunderstorms from Southern California’s monsoon season brought a temporary cooling reprieve over the weekend to a region that had been baking under a triple-digit heat wave but also sparked new wildfires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2024
“My mom was a really good home cook, and I had been baking my whole life, but picked it back up 10 years ago,” he told the New York Post.
From NewsForKids.net ● May 31, 2024
One of the seven cookers had been baking a cake, whose cozy winter aroma filled the gold-green summer day.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 23, 2019
Louise Haines, a publisher at 4th Estate, recalls that the previous big trend in British food publishing had been baking, but the baking boom “died overnight, virtually, and a number of sugar-free books came through”.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 11, 2017
A man said that he was operating a swan boat with a radio pressed to his ear; a woman had been baking rolls for her grandchildren.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
