bake

bakeverb

To bake is to cook food in an oven using dry heat, or to become hard through heating.

1. cook in an ovencook food, especially bread and cakes, in an oven using dry heat

   transitive or intransitive [T/I] verb + object [V + obj]

   • She baked a cake for his birthday. V + obj
   • The bread bakes for about forty minutes.
   • We spent the afternoon baking cookies. V + obj
   • I love the smell of bread baking.

   Collocations

   verb + noun bake a cake, bake bread

   Compare roast (roast usually means cooking meat or vegetables in an oven, often browned by their own fat or added oil; bake is the more general word, especially for bread, cakes, and other dishes); cook; fry

2. harden with heatbecome hard through heating

   transitive or intransitive [T/I] usually passive [usually passive]

   • The clay bakes hard in the kiln.
   • The mud baked in the summer sun.
   • Bricks are baked at a very high temperature.
   • The ground had baked as hard as stone.