[Origin: bef. 1000; ME baken, OE bacan, ptp. bōc baked; c. OHG bahhan, past buoh, ON baka; akin to D bakken, G backen, Gk phgein to roast; < IE alternating base *bheHog-, bhəg-]
O.E. bacan "to bake," from P.Gmc. *bakanan (cf. O.N. baka, M.Du. backen, O.H.G. bahhan), from PIE base *bhog- "to warm, roast, bake" (cf. Gk. phogein "to roast"). Baker is O.E. bæcere.Bakery "place for making bread" is from 1857, replacing earlier bakehouse; as "shop where baked goods are sold" it was noted 19c. as an Americanism. Baker's dozen "thirteen" is from 1599.
"These dealers [hucksters] ... on purchasing their bread from the bakers, were privileged by law to receive thirteen batches for twelve, and this would seem to have been the extent of their profits. Hence the expression, still in us
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.
Bake\, v. i. 1. To do the work of baking something; as, she brews, washes, and bakes. --Shak. 2. To be baked; to become dry and hard in heat; as, the bread bakes; the ground bakes in the hot sun.
Bak"er\, n. [AS. b[ae]cere. See Bake, v. i.]1. One whose business it is to bake bread, biscuit, etc. 2. A portable oven in which baking is done. [U.S.] A baker's dozen, thirteen. Baker foot, a distorted foot. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor. Baker's itch, a rash on the back of the hand, caused by the irritating properties of yeast. Baker's salt, the subcarbonate of ammonia, sometimes used instead of soda, in making bread.
Bask\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Basked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Basking.] [ OScand. ba?ask to bathe one's self, or perh. bakask to bake one's self, sk being reflexive. See Bath, n., Bake, v. t.] To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat. Basks in the glare, and stems the tepid wave. --Goldsmith.
Batch\, n. [OE. bache, bacche, fr. AS. bacan to bake; cf. G. geb["a]ck and D. baksel. See Bake, v. t.]1. The quantity of bread baked at one time. 2. A quantity of anything produced at one operation; a group or collection of persons or things of the same kind; as, a batch of letters; the next batch of business. "A new batch of Lords." --Lady M. W. Montagu.
The duty of preparing bread was usually, in ancient times, committed to the females or the slaves of the family (Gen. 18:6; Lev. 26:26; 1 Sam. 8:13); but at a later period we find a class of public bakers mentioned (Hos. 7:4, 6; Jer. 37:21). The bread was generally in the form of long or round cakes (Ex. 29:23; 1 Sam. 2:36), of a thinness that rendered them easily broken (Isa. 58:7; Matt. 14:19; 26:26; Acts 20:11). Common ovens were generally used; at other times a jar was half-filled with hot pebbles, and the dough was spread over them. Hence we read of "cakes baken on the coals" (1 Kings 19:6), and "baken in the oven" (Lev. 2:4). (See BREAD.)
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Audio Help [beyk] Pronunciation Key verb, baked, bak·ing, noun 
gein to roast; < IE alternating base *bheHog-, bhəg-
