bake Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb cook and make edible by putting in a hot oven
- bake the potatoes
verb prepare with dry heat in an oven
- bake a cake
verb heat by a natural force
broil.
- The sun broils the valley in the summer
verb be very hot, due to hot weather or exposure to the sun
broil.
- The town was broiling in the sun
- the tourists were baking in the heat

AS. bacan; akin to D. bakken, OHG. bacchan, G. backen, Icel. & Sw. baca, Dan. bage, Gr. to roast.

imperfect & past participle Baked ; present participle & verbal noun Baking

To prepare, as food, by cooking in a dry heat, either in an oven or under coals, or on heated stone or metal; as, to bake bread, meat, apples. ✍ Baking is the term usually applied to that method of cooking which exhausts the moisture in food more than roasting or broiling; but the distinction of meaning between roasting and baking is not always observed.
To dry or harden (anything) by subjecting to heat, as, to bake bricks; the sun bakes the ground.
To harden by cold.
The earth . . . is baked with frost. Shak.

They bake their sides upon the cold, hard stone. Spenser.

To do the work of baking something; as, she brews, washes, and bakes. Shak.
To be baked; to become dry and hard in heat; as, the bread bakes; the ground bakes in the hot sun.