Bake \Bake\ (b[=a]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Baked (b[=a]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Baking.]

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

1. 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.

Note: 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.

2. To dry or harden (anything) by subjecting to heat, as, to bake bricks; the sun bakes the ground.

3. To harden by cold.

The earth . . . is baked with frost. --Shak.

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

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)