bakern.
/ˈbeɪkə/, U.S. /ˈbeɪkər/ 1.
a. A person who bakes bread or similar foods; spec. a person whose occupation or business is making bread, cakes, pastries, etc., typically for sale.Also with preceding modifying word indicating the type of item baked, as in biscuit baker, cake baker, etc. (see the first element). See also brown baker n. at brown adj. Compounds 2, white baker n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > baker
baxterOE
bakerOE
dougher1314
furnera1483
cake baxter1503
furnitor1601
Master of the Rolls1649
deadman1764
bakerdom1862
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > baker > baker of bread
bakerOE
moulder1290
bread-wrighta1325
kneaderc1440
white baker1441
paster?a1475
brown baker1528
dough kneader1605
bread man1830
brakesman1845
OE Ælfric's Colloquy (1991) 20 Quidam mercatores, quidam sutores, quidam salinatores, quidam pastores loci [read pistores, coci] : sume cypmenn, sume scewyrhtan, sealteras, bæceras.
c1275 Lutel Soth Serm. (Calig.) l. 35 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 188 Alle þeos false chepmen, þe feond heom wule habbe, Bachares and brueres.
?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 157 Hail be ȝe bakers wiþ ȝur louis smale.
1466 in Manners & Househ. Expenses Eng. (1841) 211 To Marget the backers wyffe, for v. mennes borde.
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. iij/2 That backers or myllars stelyng paste or mele be drawen vpon an hyrdel.
1633 tr. in A. Munday et al. Stow's Surv. of London (new ed.) 208/1 A Pillorie, for the punishment of Bakers, offending in the assise of bread.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 7 The miller, or the baker, is obliged to poison them and their families, in order to live by his profession.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen xvii. 255 The very first baker of bread that ever lived, must have done his work exactly as the Arab does at this day.
1872 Hampshire Advertiser 3 Jan. 3/3 Matthew Burgon has been compelled, by age and infirmity, to resign his situation as prison baker.
1948 Age (Melbourne) 21 Oct. 3/7 Sending the children to queue up outside the shop of a local baker.
2003 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 11 June 7 A major recruitment campaign has been launched for butchers, bakers, clothing and catering assistants, and till operators.
b. Originally and chiefly in the genitive. A shop where baked goods are made and sold; a bakery. The genitive use is commonly interpreted as an elliptical use of a genitive compound such as baker's house or baker's shop n. at Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > shop selling provisions > baked goods or pastry
baker1548
pie house1589
baker's shop1593
bakery1598
cake house1641
pastry shop1656
bakehouse1714
bread shop1773
bakeshop1789
confectionery shop1801
confectionery1803
patisserie1824
cakery1841
bun-shop1889
pasticceria1921
konditorei1935
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. xiij An Englishe manne desired of a maide, that had been at the Bakers to bye bread for her maistres store.
1762 J. Boswell Jrnl. 21 Dec. in London Jrnl. (1950) 99 A halfpenny roll,..which I had bought at a baker's.
1810 M. van H. Dwight Jrnl. 7 Nov. in Journey to Ohio (1912) 35 We have nothing to eat and can get nothing but some slapjacks at a baker's some distance off.
1945 H. Wernher My Indian Family v. 93 How on earth am I to prepare the pain au chocolat you get at every baker's in Paris?
1991 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 4 Sept. c1 I have wonderful memories of trips to the baker, and of the great Sunday lunches that followed.
2018 Paisley Daily Express (Nexis) 24 Oct. 8 I used to go up in the morning and collect his rolls at the baker's.
2. With good, poor, etc.: a (variety of) fruit or vegetable which cooks well, badly, etc., when baked. Later also without modifier: a (variety of) fruit or vegetable that is suitable for baking; spec. a baking potato.In early use chiefly applied to apples; later frequently of potatoes.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > [noun] > that cooks well
baker1651
boiler1812
cooker1860
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > root vegetable > [noun] > potato > types of
baker1651
Irish potato1664
sprout1771
London lady1780
ox-noble1794
pink-eye1795
kidney1796
Suriname1796
round1800
yam potato1801
bluenose1803
yam1805
bead-potato1808
Murphy1811
lumper1840
blue1845
salmon1845
merino1846
regent1846
pink1850
redskin potato1851
fluke1868
snowflake1882
magnum1889
ware1894
snowdrop1900
King Edward1902
Majestic1917
red1926
fingerling1930
Pentland1959
chipper1961
Maris Peer1963
Maris Piper1963
1651 R. Child Large Let. in S. Hartlib Legacie 23 There are no lesse in this Island then 500. species [of Apples]; some commended for their early ripenesse;..some for great bearers; others for good Bakers.
1810 W. Shaw Miller's Pract. Gardener (new ed.) Catal. Fruit & Other Trees 620/1 It is a fine cider apple, and a good baker.
1912 Irrigation Age Sept. 430/2 Heavy irrigation of potatoes produces a soggy potato that is a poor baker.
1960 Chain Store Age Mar. 192/3 Pointing out whether the potato is a baker, broiler, or all-purpose variety is particularly important with newer varieties.
2015 @rnoyes1 19 Apr. in twitter.com (accessed 12 Aug. 2019) Big apples like Honeycrisp are good bakers.
3. Originally and chiefly North American.
a. Any of various devices or utensils used for baking; esp. a small portable metal oven or stove designed to be placed by an open fire and using reflected heat to cook an item placed inside it (= reflector oven n. at reflector n. Compounds 2). Sometimes with modifying word, as in reflector baker, Yankee baker. Now rare.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > stove or cooker > [noun] > oven > small oven
baker1818
ovenette1919
toaster-oven1961
1818 Georgia Jrnl. (Milledgeville) 1 Dec. (advt.) One pot, one frying pan, one oven and lid, one club axe, one baker and kettle.
1841 Lowell (Mass.) Offering 1 227 A peep into the baker told that the potatoes were cooked.
1922 C. P. Fordyce Trail Craft viii. 77 The fire gives a wall of flame two feet high, in front of which we set the baker.
1981 Daily News (Huntingdon, Pa.) 7 July 4/8 I have baked biscuits using a reflector baker next to an open fire.
b. A type of dish used for baking or roasting food, or for serving baked food, typically made of ceramic and having no lid; a baking dish.
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1819 Scioto (Ohio) Gaz. 19 Feb. (advt.) Crockery Ware... Bakers 9 to 12 inch.
1890 Wellesley Cook Bk. 59 Stir the liquid until it boils, then add the meat, and pour all into a shallow baker.
1913 Washington Post 23 Feb. iii. 1/5 (advt.) China and white porcelain at less than factory prices... Bakers or side dishes.
2010 R. Hoch in A. M. Lindsay et al. Woodside Cooks 137 Oil a rectangular baker with vegetable oil... Bake fish at 400F for about 20 minutes.
4. Angling. A kind of artificial fishing fly used particularly for salmon. Cf. butcher n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > salmon flies
salmon fly1704
kingfisher?1758
tartan1837
goldfinch1845
parr-tail1847
baker1848
butcher1860
Jock Scott1866
claret1867
colonel1867
king1867
major1867
Shannon fly1867
wasp1867
chimney-sweep1872
Jack Scott1874
hornet1876
winesop black1876
mystery1880
1848 F. Tolfrey Jones's Guide Norway vi. 213 All the Namsen flies are adapted to the Alten; those named ‘the Butcher’, ‘the Baker’, and ‘the Doctor’, will be found very destructive.
1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling x. 305 The Baker..is another good general fly.
2010 M. D. Radencich Twenty Salmon Flies App. 195/1 (heading) The Baker.
Phrases
In proverbs and proverbial phrases.ΚΠ
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ii. sig. G I feare, we parte not yeet, Quoth the baker to the pillory.
1659 J. Howell Eng. Prov. 7/2 in Lex. Tetraglotton (1660) Ile take no leave of you, quoth the Baker to the Pillory.
P2. be not a baker if your head be made of butter and variants: do not attempt an undertaking for which you are ill-suited. Now rare.
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a1633 G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. (1640) sig. B4v Bee not a Baker, if your head be of butter.
1722 New-England Courant 1-8 Jan. The old Proverb, Be not a Baker if your Head be made of Butter, is very applicable to your self.
1858 Country Gentleman 13 Sept. 179/2 ‘Be not a baker if your head be made of butter,’ is an old proverb expressing sound practical philosophy, and is widely applicable to many young men beginning life at the plow-handles.
2017 MailOnline (Nexis) 18 Mar. The presenter's feelings are simply not the point: as a mad old proverb from my childhood goes: ‘Be not a baker if your head be made of butter!’
P3. pull devil, pull baker: see pull v. Phrases 3.
Compounds
C1.
baker's bread n. bread baked by a baker, as opposed to home-baked bread; (now sometimes also) freshly baked shop-bought bread as opposed to pre-packaged mass-produced bread.In quot. ?1550: ordinary bread as contrasted with the consecrated bread used in the celebration of the Eucharist, believed by adherents of the doctrine of transubstantiation to be the body of Christ.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > [noun] > other types of bread
sergeant-loafa1348
clear-matin1362
bean-breadc1380
French bread1420
pease-breada1425
bran-breadc1425
grey breadc1430
angels' breadc1440
dough bread?a1500
baker's bread?1550
acorn bread1571
cart-bread1574
chapter-bread1600
diet-bread1617
ember-bread1681
buff coat1688
bust-coat1706
Picentine bread1712
chestnut-bread1814
naan1828
gluten-bread1846
to-bread1854
batch-bread1862
injera1868
coffee cake1879
pan dulce1882
quick bread1882
sour bread1884
Tommy1895
focaccia1905
hard-dough bread1911
hush puppy1918
potica1927
spoon bread1932
bake1933
pitta1936
hard-dough1966
pain de campagne1970
pocket bread1973
ciabatta1985
pain au levain1985
levain1991
?1550 R. Smith Confut. Def. True & Catholike Doctr. Sacrament sig. Kiiijv I aske of yow..how ye can proue..that there is none other substance in the blessed sacrament of the aulter then bare bakers bread, and wyne of the vyne?
1813 J. Austen Let. 3 Nov. (1995) 249 I suppose you will be going to Streatham, to see quiet Mr Hill & eat very bad Baker's bread.
1964 M. Lochhead Victorian Househ. vii. 104 The women, as a rule, were..good bakers... Baker's bread was at once an extravagance and a treat.
2010 @Gyrowoof 1 May in twitter.com (accessed 12 Aug. 2019) Mega fail in slicing up baker's bread. Now I know why I only buy sliced bread.
baker's dozen n. a group or set of thirteen; (formerly sometimes) †a group or set of fourteen (obsolete); cf. dozen n. 1c.Apparently so called after the former practice among bakers of including a thirteenth loaf when selling a dozen to a retailer, the extra loaf representing the retailer's profit. Cf. thirteen to the dozen at dozen n. 1c.
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the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > eleven to ninety-nine > [noun] > thirteen > thirteen things, persons, etc.
thirteenc1000
baker's dozen1596
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > eleven to ninety-nine > [noun] > fourteen > fourteen things, persons, etc.
fourteen1480
baker's dozen1785
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden Ep. Ded. sig. B Conioyning with his aforesaid Doctor Brother in eightie eight browne Bakers dozen of Almanackes.
1611 in J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Serqua, a dozen, namely of egges, or as we say a Bakers dozen, that is thirteene to the dozen.
1705 H. Newcome Transubstant. Discuss'd i. 90 Now let's see how H. N. endeavours to overturn this weight of Authority? I find he levels no less than a Baker's Dozen of Objections directly against it. [A list of thirteen objections follows.]
1734 H. Fielding Don Quixote in Eng. iii. vi. 48 I dare swear there were a good round Baker's Dozen, at least.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Baker's dozen, fourteen, that number of rolls being allowed to the purchasers of a dozen.
1855 Notes & Queries 3 Feb. 88/2 The ‘baker's dozen’ is not a phrase, but a fact of daily occurrence in the trade for the number fourteen, or more commonly thirteen.
2017 Sun-Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 10 Dec. 20 Being the eighth child in a baker's dozen of children isn't an easy gig for anyone.
baker's itch n. psoriasis or contact dermatitis affecting bakers and others who work with flour, chiefly caused by an immune reaction to the bite of the flour mite, Acarus siro.
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1802 Brit. Critic Apr. 410 There are various species of this complaint, which take their denomination from the part peculiarly affected..; or from the business exercised by persons most liable to it, as the grocer's and baker's itch.
1925 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Aug. 315/2 Considerable attention has been given to the subject of baker's itch during recent years, especially since the war.
2008 R. L. Rietschel & J. F. Fowler Fisher's Contact Dermatitis (ed. 6) xxi. 428/1 Baker's itch occurs among workers in granaries, flour mills, and bakeries, particularly in small establishments that do not use mechanical processes and have few sanitary arrangements to destroy mites.
baker's percentage n. the proportion of an ingredient required in a recipe, expressed as a percentage relative to the amount of flour.
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1958 Baking Handbk. (U.S. Navy Dept.) 10-2 All percentages will be based on baker's percentage unless otherwise specified.
2013 R. Miscovich From Wood-fired Oven xii. 181/1 I replace the whole wheat flour with white flour and add 28g fresh rosemary. The baker's percentage of rosemary is 3 percent.
baker's salt n. (also bakers' salt) (a) a powdered mineral substance, esp. an adulterant containing alum, added to bread to improve colour and add bulk (now historical); (b) ammonium carbonate, occasionally used as a raising agent in place of baking soda; (c) salt (sodium chloride) prepared for use in commercial bakery, esp. by enrichment with potassium iodide.
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1814 Sun 29 July 4/2 The bakers of the metropolis were in the habit of using..a composition called Bakers' Salt, part of which was alum.
1828 T. Castle Lexicon Pharmaceuticum (ed. 2) 175 Sub-carbonate of Ammonia. Smelling salts. Baker's Salt.
1855 Adulteration Food, Drink, & Drugs 58 Bakers' stuff, or bakers' salt, as it is called, is salt mixed with alum.
1964 K. H. Schütte Biol. Trace Elem. 98 (caption) Incidence of goitre in schoolchildren before and four years after the institution of prophylaxis with iodized baker's salt.
2006 A. E. Altmann Seven Swabians 267 There are two ingredients in it [sc. German honey cake] that are not normally found in North American grocery stores: the baker's salt or hartshorn salt..which is carbonate of ammonia, and the potash.., which is potassium carbonate.
2015 M. de la Guardia & S. Garrigues Handbk. Min. Elem. in Food xxiii. 570/1 The main carrier for iodine in the Netherlands is the salt added to bread (i.e. baker's salt), which has been enriched with iodine since 1942.
baker's shop n. a shop where baked goods are made and sold; a bakery.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > shop selling provisions > baked goods or pastry
baker1548
pie house1589
baker's shop1593
bakery1598
cake house1641
pastry shop1656
bakehouse1714
bread shop1773
bakeshop1789
confectionery shop1801
confectionery1803
patisserie1824
cakery1841
bun-shop1889
pasticceria1921
konditorei1935
1593 W. Rainolds Treat. Holy Sacrifice & Sacrament v. 162 Ye find nothing but bread from the bakers shop, and wine from the vintners seller.
1695 W. Turner Hist. All Relig. World ii. 396 Sultan Amurat disguising himself, would go sometimes to a Baker's Shop and buy Bread.
1835 N. P. Willis Pencillings I. viii. 54 A little further on was a baker's shop, with a well-used oven.
2006 N. Alderman Disobedience ix. 167 At the baker's shop, she picked out three large plaited challot, glossy and warm.
baker's yeast n. yeast used in baking bread and other baked goods.
ΚΠ
1805 A. Edlin Treat. Art Bread-making viii. 149 Thicken two quarts of water with four ounces of fine flour, boil it for half an hour..when almost cold, pour it along with four spoonfuls of baker's yeast into an earthen jug.
2018 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz.-Mail (Nexis) 17 Oct. 1 d The bistro uses craft beer instead of the usual baker's yeast to help the dough rise.
C2.
a. In popular names for deformities of the leg or foot traditionally associated with bakers, esp. genu valgum (knock-knee), as in †baker feet, †baker-knees, †baker-legs; also in the genitive, as in baker's knee, baker's legs. Now chiefly historical. [Compare German Bäckerbeine, plural, literally ‘baker-legs’ (1818 or earlier).] Sometimes applied esp. when the condition affects one leg only (cf. quot. 1871).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > of legs
baker-legs1611
baker-kneesa1806
knock-knees1826
bandiness1841
genu valgum1887
genu varum1887
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > of legs > leg
stump lega1568
shackle-hams1603
baker's legs1611
badger legs1656
cheese-cutter1681
K-leg1842
jake leg1930
jake walk1930
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > of foot
club-foota1552
baker feet1656
valgus1800
varus1800
inversion1825
talipes1842
pommel foot1857
inturn1860
talus1864
flat-foot1870
spurious valgus1872
flat-footedness1882
Friedreich('s) foot1940
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > other deformities
eversion1567
exenteration1831
ankyloglossia1848
baker's knee1871
mal-insertion1904
malrotation1932
hole in (the) heart1958
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster West-ward Hoe ii. ii. sig. C4v Wil womens tounges (like Bakers legs) neuer go straight.]
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Iambes ennelées, Baker-legs.
1656 Disc. Auxiliary Beauty (1662) 79 The unhandsome warpings of bow Leggs and baker Feet.
1659 Lady Alimony v. v. sig. Kiv His puny Baker-legs.
a1806 J. Barry in R. N. Wornum Lect. on Painting (1848) 94 Knocked or baker knees.
1871 Figure Training 39 Baker's knee, as it is called, or an inclining inwards of the right knee-joint until it closely resembles the right side of a letter K, is the almost certain penalty of habitually bearing any burden of bulk in the right hand.
1945 W. R. Trask tr. A. Granach There goes Actor xxviii. 172 I stood every night on the finest stage in Germany with the best actors in the country, but I stood there on my crooked baker's legs.
2001 L. Summers Bound to Please iii. 79 Children's corsetry still concerned itself with the prevention of the ‘evils of early neglect’; these being such disfiguring ailments as Baker's Knee, curvature of the spine, a lounging gait and general stooping.
b. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘having such a deformity, knock-kneed’, by combining with a noun + -ed, as in †baker-kneed, baker-legged. Now rare.In quot. 1991 in a work of historical fiction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [adjective] > of legs > having
leglessc1390
bow-legged1552
crook-legged1580
shackle-hammed1592
baker-kneed1611
baker-legged1611
buckle-hammed1629
out-shinned1682
bandy-legged1688
crooked-legged1691
shackled-ham'd1733
badger-legged1738
tailor-legged1768
knock-kneed1774
scissor-legged1880
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Iarretier,..Baker-legd, that goes in at the knees.
1649 L. Willan Phrygian Fabulist sig. A5v Beeing of all men of that Age the most deform'd: Sharp-headed, flat-nos'd,..Baker-kneed, [etc.].
?1714 E. Ward Whole Pleasures of Matrimony 27 He might go down, tho' he were blear-eyed, Baker-legged, or tut-mouthed; for in such a Case the Lass marries not him so much as his Fortune.
1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. xxii. 382 Curl was in person very tall and thin, an ungainly, aukward, white-faced man... He was splay-footed, and baker-kneed.
1857 H. Melville Confidence-Man xxii. 176 A round-backed, baker-kneed man, in a mean five-dollar suit.
1991 J. Caille Impetuous Bride ii. 26 She wasn't too tall or short, too fat or thin, nor was she baker-kneed or pockmarked or anything like that.
Derivatives
ˈbakerless adj. without a baker.
ΚΠ
1885 Athenæum 12 Dec. 764/1 Our butcherless, bakerless, tailorless, cobblerless, doctorless, bookless, milkless, postless.., comfortless jungle.
1938 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 21 Dec. 15/1 During the coming holidays many women..may find the number of bakerless days an inconvenience.
2019 @Introdile 5 Aug. in twitter.com (accessed 24 Mar. 2020) Well i just got into work and the baker isn't here!!!!!! i already had a bakerless day last week!!!
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.OE