Bake

/beɪk/

verbBeginnerVery CommonGeneral

Definitions

1

To cook food by dry heat in an oven.

/beɪk/

verbneutralBeginner
General

To cook (food) by dry heat without direct exposure to a flame, typically in an oven.

She baked a delicious apple pie.

💡 Simply: To cook in an oven.

More Examples

2

The bread is baking in the oven.

How It's Used

Culinary

"I'm going to bake a cake for my friend's birthday."

Home Economics

"We learned how to bake bread in our cooking class."

Idioms & expressions

bake someone in the sun

To stay in the sun for a long period and become very warm

"I spent the afternoon baking in the sun at the beach."

From Old English *bǣcan, meaning "to cook by dry heat."

The word 'bake' has been used in English since the Old English period, consistently referring to cooking with dry heat.

Memory tip

Think of the heat in an oven 'baking' the food.

Base: bake
baekbak

Usage

60%Spoken
40%Written