cake

[ keyk ]

noun

1. a sweet, baked, breadlike food, made with or without shortening, and usually containing flour, sugar, baking powder or soda, eggs, and liquid flavoring.
2. a flat, thin mass of bread, especially unleavened bread.
3. pancake; griddlecake.
4. a shaped or molded mass of other food:

   a fish cake.

5. a shaped or compressed mass:

   a cake of soap; a cake of ice.

6. Animal Husbandry. a compacted block of soybeans, cottonseeds, or linseeds from which the oil has been pressed, usually used as a feed or feed supplement for cattle.

verb (used with object)

, caked, cak·ing.

1. to form into a crust or compact mass.

verb (used without object)

, caked, cak·ing.

1. to become formed into a crust or compact mass.

   Synonyms: congeal, dry, solidify, harden

cake

/ keɪk /

noun

1. a baked food, usually in loaf or layer form, typically made from a mixture of flour, sugar, and eggs
2. a flat thin mass of bread, esp unleavened bread
3. a shaped mass of dough or other food of similar consistency

   a fish cake

4. a mass, slab, or crust of a solidified or compressed substance, as of soap or ice
5. have one's cake and eat it
   to enjoy both of two desirable but incompatible alternatives
6. go like hot cakes or sell like hot cakes informal.
   to be sold very quickly or in large quantities
7. piece of cake informal.
   something that is easily achieved or obtained
8. take the cake informal.
   to surpass all others, esp in stupidity, folly, etc
9. informal.
   the whole or total of something that is to be shared or divided

   that is a fair method of sharing the cake

   the miners are demanding a larger slice of the cake

verb

1. tr to cover with a hard layer; encrust

   the hull was caked with salt

2. to form or be formed into a hardened mass

Derived Forms

• ˈcakey, adjective

Other Words From

• caky cakey adjective
• non·caking adjective noun
• un·cake verb (used with object) uncaked uncaking

Word History and Origins

Origin of cake¹

1200–50; Middle English < Old Norse kaka; akin to Middle English kechel little cake, German Kuchen; cookie

Word History and Origins

Origin of cake¹

C13: from Old Norse kaka; related to Danish kage, German Kuchen

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. a piece of cake, Informal. something easily done:

   She thought her first solo flight was a piece of cake.

2. take the cake, Informal.
   1. to surpass all others, especially in some undesirable quality; be extraordinary or unusual:

      His arrogance takes the cake.

   2. to win first prize.

More idioms and phrases containing cake

see eat one's cake and have it, too ; flat as a pancake ; icing on the cake ; nutty as a fruitcake ; piece of cake ; sell like hot cakes ; slice of the pie (cake) ; take the cake .

Example Sentences

Then 13, and I’m just staring at this cake, wishing I was anywhere but there.

From Los Angeles Times

Balloons and banners were hung outside her bedroom door in the morning, followed by the presentation of a candlelit chocolate cake in the evening.

From BBC

The other was another edition of a baking contest that featured a dirty turkey cake and one with a gaping orifice that spits stuffing.

From Los Angeles Times

Colleagues and residents threw Mrs Pritchard a retirement party with cake, flowers and champagne to say farewell.

From BBC

She woke up to balloons and banners outside her door, before she was presented with a candlelit chocolate cake.

From BBC

Related Words

• loaf