Great British Bake Off

1 3.5

A British TV show where amateur bakers compete in weekly baking challenges

proper noun

: The Great British Bake Off

I love watching The Great British Bake Off every Saturday evening.

Examples

Every year, millions tune in to watch the Great British Bake Off and cheer for their favourite bakers.
Contestants on the Great British Bake Off are known for their creativity and attention to detail.
She tried to recreate a cake she saw on the Great British Bake Off last week.
I love watching the Great British Bake Off every week.
Did you see the Great British Bake Off finale last night?
Last night, we had a cozy family night and enjoyed The Great British Bake Off together.
Each week, the contestants bring their best recipes to The Great British Bake Off and face tough challenges.

Surface Forms

Great British Bake Off main

Morphology

great + British + bake + Off

Knowing 'British' and 'bake' allows a learner to infer this refers to British baking; the overall idea of a show about baking is therefore largely recoverable. However, 'Bake Off' uses the particle 'off' idiomatically to mean a contest (as in 'cook-off'), and 'Great' functions as a title element rather than strictly descriptive, so the exact notion 'a televised baking competition called The Great British Bake Off' is not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Great British Bake Off comes from a simple picture: home bakers meet in a tent to bake and compete. A bake off is a friendly baking 'contest', and 'Great British' shows it is the British version, so the title means a British baking competition.