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to cake

to cake

24 7.9
To become covered with a hard or thick layer
  • verb
  • /keɪk/
translation icon : cubrirse de
  • The old frying pan has caked grease that makes it hard to clean.
  • caked with mud
  • caked with dust

I don't click yet they're caked in something.

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Examples

  • My feet got heavier as the snow started caking to my shoes.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • And so the front of my car is caked with bugs.

  • Industrial salt, it was caked all over his shoes.

  • The amount of paint caked onto these cars is insane.

  • Her once shiny hair was now caked with dirt and tangled into an ugly mat.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • When your pans are caked with grease, these will make cleaning them up breeze.

  • The headlights were caked with gumbo and issued barely more than a glow.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Howard undressed in the hall, mud-caked pants crackling as they fell.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The paint has caked on thickly, making it difficult to see the original color of the wall.

  • After the storm, the car was caked with mud and debris from the flooded streets.

Synonyms

to coat
vsto cake
105 2.8

To cover something with a thin layer of a substance

is specifically about forming a hard or thick coating rather than any cover
to glaze
vsto cake
33 4.2

To cover a surface with a smooth shiny liquid that dries hard, for example on food or pottery

is about forming a hard coating generally rather than creating a shiny liquid finish
to plaster
vsto cake
30 3.8

To cover a surface thickly or stick things all over it

results in a hard outer layer rather than merely a thick wet covering
to crust
vsto cake
15 3.4

To form a hard outer layer on something as it dries

is the active process of making that hard outer layer rather than just being covered
to laminate
vsto cake
11 4.3

To cover something with a thin plastic layer to protect it

aims at creating a hard coating overall rather than a thin protective sheet
to frost
vsto cake
11 2.2

To put sweet icing on a cake or cupcake

means forming a hard coating or crust rather than a soft decorative layer
to encrust
vsto cake
5 6.1

To become covered with a hard outer layer

is the general act of creating a hard surface coating rather than other coverings
to enamel
vsto cake
3 6.5

To cover a surface with a hard shiny layer for protection or decoration

focuses on forming any hard coating rather than a specifically glossy finish
to daub
vsto cake
3 8.1

To cover a surface roughly with a thick sticky substance

involves forming a hard, solid coating rather than a rough messy smear
to stick on
vsto cake
1 3.8

Put on a thick layer of something like paint or makeup

implies forming a hard coating by drying or hardening rather than just applying
to sugarcoat
vsto cake
1 4.4

Cover food with a sweet sugar layer

refers broadly to making a hard coating, not only sweet or edible coverings
to daube
vsto cake
9.9

To smear something roughly with paint, plaster, or another soft wet material

focuses on creating a hard outer layer rather than leaving a soft smear

Idioms

piece of cake
  • Informal
51 1.0

Something very easy to do

to take the cake
  • Informal
14 7.6

The most extreme example, often surprising in a bad or silly way

10 3.1

An extra good thing that makes a situation better

Compounds

48 1.0

A cake made and decorated for a birthday, often with candles

A cake made with chocolate and served as a dessert

29 1.0

A decorated cake with layers made for a wedding celebration

9 1.6

A sweet cake or bread often flavored with cinnamon and nuts, eaten with coffee

8 1.2

A rich, heavy cake made with a lot of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour

7 3.2

A ring-shaped cake baked in a pan with wavy sides and a hole in the middle

7 1.0

A packaged set of dry ingredients for making a cake that you add eggs and water to

7 1.8

A light, airy cake that uses eggs, flour and sugar without butter or oil

A dessert of ice cream shaped like a cake and decorated for parties

5 1.3

A cake with two or more layers and sweet filling between

3 2.9

A very light cake made with only egg whites and no butter

3 1.0

A sweet baked cake with small pieces of coconut inside and on top

A cake you bake with fruit on the bottom then flip so it sits on top

2 2.0

A sweet cake with a thick crumbly topping often eaten with coffee

2 2.0

A small fried patty made from flaked fish mixed with potatoes

2 1.0

A light pale cake using only egg whites, flour, sugar, and butter

A rich cake with dried fruit and sweet icing that people eat at Christmas

1 2.5

A sweet spicy cake made with honey that people eat at holidays

1 2.0

A flat food like a pancake made from cornmeal and cooked on a pan

1 8.0

A flat cornmeal cake cooked like a pancake on a griddle

1 1.8

A cake made with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg

yeast cake
  • Archaic
1 3.0

A small solid block that you use in baking to make bread dough rise

A thin pancake made with buckwheat flour often served for breakfast

1 1.0

A metal pan people use to bake cakes

cake walk
  • Informal
1 1.3

A very easy task that needs little effort

1 2.8

A light soft cake made with oil and eggs

A very dark, rich chocolate cake that is moist and has a strong chocolate taste

1 2.5

A very light cake made only from egg whites, flour, and sugar

1 8.2

A type of cornbread wrapped in leaves and baked in hot ashes

1 5.6

A rich, firm sponge cake with a close, buttery texture

1 1.9

A cake with light and dark batters mixed to make a swirled look

1 3.7

A chilled dessert with layers of cookies and whipped cream

1 3.5

A sweet cake with seeds like caraway and a little lemon

2.2

A shaped pan used for baking cakes so they take that shape

6.2

A solid block of rich food made for cows to eat

codfish cake
  • Canadian
3.5

A small fried or baked cake made from salt cod and potatoes

cotton cake
  • Indian
6.0

Solid material left after oil is taken from cotton seeds used to feed animals or as fertilizer

cottonseed cake
  • Specialized
5.8

Solid material left after people remove oil from cotton seeds used to feed animals or help plants grow

8.9

A small, round, flat pastry filled with currants or other dried fruit

A moist spiced cake that uses applesauce

flannel-cake
  • Archaic
7.7

A thin flat cake cooked on a hot pan like a pancake

5.5

A thin pancake fried on both sides and often served for breakfast

4.7

A cooked patty made from imitation crab and other ingredients

1.0

A flat round cake made from thin batter and cooked on both sides on a hot pan

journey cake
  • Archaic
8.0

A thin cornbread cooked like a pancake on a hot pan

neem cake
  • Indian
9.3

A solid left after squeezing neem seeds for oil that is used as a natural fertilizer and to control pests

A moist cake made with pureed prunes

3.7

A small rough cake with dried fruit, hard outside and soft inside

oil cake
  • Specialized
6.2

A pressed block of seeds left after their oil is removed and used as animal feed

7.7

A sponge cake soaked in wine or sherry and decorated with almonds and candied fruit

9.9

A flat bread made from cornmeal by the Shawnee people

6.3

A cake baked in a pan over sweet fruit then flipped so the fruit is on top

A light, soft cake flavored with vanilla

How Coated

to encrust
5 6.1
to cake
24 7.9
to coat
105 2.8
to stain
113 3.2

Surface Forms

cake infinitive
caked past
caked past participle
caking present participle
cakes third person singular

Etymology

To cake (as a verb) comes from the noun cake: when dirt or snow sticks together into a hard 'lump' it looks like a cake. So to cake means to form a hard layer or thick coating.