v., baked, bak·ing, bakes. v.tr.
- To cook (food) with dry heat, especially in an oven.
- To harden or dry (something) by subjecting to heat in or as if in an oven: bake bricks.
- To cook food with dry heat.
- To become hardened or dry by or as if by having been subjected to the heat of an oven.
- The act or process of baking.
- An amount baked.
- A social gathering at which food is cooked by baking and then served.
[Middle English baken, from Old English bacan.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
