caked

1. 1
   adjective

   Hardened into a thick, cakelike mass, or coated with a layer of such hardened material.

   Her face was caked with so much foundation that it cracked when she smiled.

   The shovel came up caked in heavy clay from the riverbed.

   Similarencrusted, crusted, plastered, coated, covered

   Note

   The adjective faces two ways. Either the material is caked, or the thing it covers is. When the covered thing is the subject, in and with are both natural: a bike caked in mud, fleece caked with manure. When the substance is the subject, on marks where it sits. The phrase often carries a hint of excess, as with makeup so overdone that it was caked on.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of cake.

   Dried blood caked around the edges of the wound.

   Years of grease had caked onto the kitchen walls.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty: it is the simple past (the blood caked) and the past participle (it had caked). The verb works both ways. Used transitively, something cakes something else: mud caked the boots. Used intransitively, blood or another liquid cakes as it dries. In the passive (the boots were caked with mud) it shades into the adjective for crusted things, and context decides which reading you hear.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Burned down to nothing but ash, with no smokable material left.

   This bowl's caked. There's nothing but ash left in here now.

   He tapped out the caked pipe and reached for more.

   Similarcashed, spent

   Oppositefresh, packed

   Note

   Smokers' slang for the moment a pipe or bowl is finished, when nothing is left in it but ash. It belongs to casual talk among smokers rather than general use. It describes the pipe, not the person: the bowl is caked, not the smoker. Kicked is used in the same way, and either word works as a signal that it is time to refill or stop.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3