cake

Etymology

From Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka (“cake”) (compare Norwegian kake, Icelandic/Swedish kaka, Danish kage), from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ (“cake”), from Proto-Indo-European *gog- (“ball-shaped object”) (compare Persian کوکه Northern Kurdish gog (“ball”); Romanian gogoașă (“doughnut”) and gogă (“walnut, nut”); Lithuanian gúoge (“head of cabbage”)). Related to cookie, kuchen, and quiche. Doublet of coca.

noun

1. A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing.
2. A small mass of baked dough, especially a thin loaf from unleavened dough.
   an oatmeal cake
   a johnnycake
3. A thin wafer-shaped mass of fried batter; a griddlecake or pancake.
   buckwheat cakes
4. A block of any of various dense materials.
   a cake of soap
   a cake of sand
   Cakes of rustling ice come rolling down the flood.
5. (slang) A trivially easy task or responsibility; from a piece of cake.
6. (slang) Money.
7. Used to describe the doctrine of having one's cake and eating it too.
   "It looks like the cake [and eat it] philosophy is still alive." Quote attributed to Donald Tusk. 2018, The Guardian, "UK's aspirations for post-Brexit trade deal an illusion, says Donald Tusk", Daniel Boffey, Peter Walker, Jennifer Rankin, and Heather Stewart, 23 February 2018
8. (slang) A buttock, especially one that is exceptionally plump.
   Mmm, I'd like to cut me some of that cake!
9. (pyrotechnics) A multi-shot fireworks assembly comprising several tubes, each with a fireworks effect, lit by a single fuse.

verb

1. (transitive) Coat (something) with a crust of solid material.
   His shoes are caked with mud.
2. (transitive) To form into a cake, or mass.
3. (intransitive) Of blood or other liquid, to dry out and become hard.