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to cook by dry heat in an oven or on heated metal or stones.
to harden by heat:
to bake pottery in a kiln.
to dry by, or subject to heat:
The sun baked the land.
to bake bread, a casserole, etc.
to become baked:
The cake will bake in about half an hour.
to be subjected to heat:
The lizard baked on the hot rocks.
a social occasion at which the chief food is baked.
Scot. cracker (def 1).
bake in/into,

Computers. to incorporate (a feature) as part of a system or piece of software or hardware while it is still in development: The location-tracking service is baked in the new app.
Security features come baked into the operating system.
to include as an inseparable or permanent part:
Baked into the price of the product is the cost of advertising.

Contemporary Examples

When it came time to add the baking powder, my son asked what it was.
Why Now is Not the Time for New Sanctions on Iran Dylan Williams November 4, 2013

Top with a baking rack to help keep the rounds uniform and even as they bake.
Bourbon Bacon Apple Tarts Brian Boitano August 24, 2009

Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet with parchment or on a tray fitted with a baking rack.
Fresh Picks Alex Guarnaschelli September 14, 2011

Remove the squab breasts from the marinade and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
Daniel Boulud Reveals His 4 Favorite Recipes From His New Cookbook Daniel Boulud October 14, 2013

If the filling sinks while baking, pour in the reserved batter about halfway through.
Daniel Boulud Reveals His 4 Favorite Recipes From His New Cookbook Daniel Boulud October 14, 2013

Historical Examples

At the first note of alarm they had started scouring up their pans and determined to encourage thrift by baking their own bread.
The Siege of Kimberley T. Phelan

Sift the baking powder and spices with the flour and add these.
Woman’s Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4 Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

Sift together twice the flour, soda, baking powder and add to the molasses mixture.
Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking Unknown

Care should be exercised in their baking to prevent them from burning.
Woman’s Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4 Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

Mix well and pour in a baking dish and bake in a slow oven for thirty-five minutes.
Mrs. Wilson’s Cook Book Mary A. Wilson

noun

the process of cooking bread, cakes, etc
(as modifier): a baking dish

the bread, cakes, etc, cooked at one time
adjective
(esp of weather) very hot and dry
verb
(transitive) to cook by dry heat in or as if in an oven
(intransitive) to cook bread, pastry, etc, in an oven
to make or become hardened by heat
(intransitive) (informal) to be extremely hot, as in the heat of the sun
noun
(US) a party at which the main dish is baked
a batch of things baked at one time
(Scot) a kind of biscuit
(Caribbean) a small flat fried cake
v.

Old English bacan “to bake,” from Proto-Germanic *bakanan (cf. Old Norse baka, Middle Dutch backen, Old High German bahhan, German backen), from PIE *bheg- “to warm, roast, bake” (cf. Greek phogein “to roast”), from root *bhe- “to warm” (see bath). Related: Baked (Middle English had baken); baking. Baked beans attested by 1803.
n.

“social gathering at which baked food is served,” 1846, American English, from bake (v.).

adjective

Extremely warm and damp: baking inside the laboratory with no windows (1786+)

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.)