Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective, hot·ter, hot·test.
- having or giving off heat; having a high temperature: a hot fire; hot coffee.
- having or causing a sensation of great bodily heat; attended with or producing such a sensation: He was hot with fever.
- creating a burning sensation, as on the skin or in the throat: This ointment is hot, so apply it sparingly.
- sharply peppery or pungent: Is this mustard hot?
- having or showing intense or violent feeling; ardent; fervent; vehement; excited: a hot temper.
- Informal. having a strong enthusiasm; eager: a hot baseball fan.
- Slang.
- sexually aroused; lustful.
- sexy; attractive.
- violent, furious, or intense: the hottest battle of the war.
- strong or fresh, as a scent or trail.
- absolutely new; fresh: a dozen new mystery stories hot from the press.
- requiring immediate delivery or correspondence; demanding priority: The hot freight must be delivered by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, or we’ll lose the contract.
- Slang. skillful in a reckless or daring way: a hot pilot.
- following very closely; close: to be hot on the trail of a thief.
- (of colors) extremely intense: hot pink.
- Informal. popular and commercially successful; in demand; marketable: The Beatles were a hot group in the 1960s.
- Slang. extremely lucky, good, or favorable: A poker player has to have a hot hand to win the pot.
- Slang. (in sports and games) playing well or winningly; scoring effectively: a hot pitcher.
- Slang. funny; absurd: That’s a hot one!
- Games. close to the object or answer that is being sought.
- Informal. extremely exciting or interesting; sensational or scandalous: a hot news story.
- Jazz.
- (of music) emotionally intense, propulsive, and marked by aggressive attack and warm, full tone.
- (of a musician) skilled in playing hot jazz.
- Informal. (of a vehicle) capable of attaining extremely high speeds: a hot new jet plane.
- Slang.
- stolen recently or otherwise illegal and dangerous to possess: a hot diamond necklace.
- wanted by the police.
- dangerous.
- Informal. in the mood to perform exceedingly well, or rapidly, as during a burst of creative work: Finish writing that story while you’re still hot.
- actively conducting an electric current or containing a high voltage: a hot wire.
- of, relating to, or noting radioactivity.
- Metalworking. noting any process involving plastic deformation of a metal at a temperature high enough to permit recrystallization due to the strain: hot working.
adverb
- in a hot manner; hotly.
- while hot: Garnish the potatoes with parsley and serve hot.
- Metalworking. at a temperature high enough to permit recrystallization: The wire was drawn hot.
verb (used with or without object), hot·ted, hot·ting.
- Chiefly British Informal. to heat; warm (usually followed by up).
noun
- the hots, Slang. intense sexual desire or attraction.
Idioms
- get hot, Slang. (in sports and games) to become very effective or successful; score or win repeatedly or easily.
- hot and bothered, Informal. excited, aroused, or flustered: This mistake isn’t worth getting hot and bothered about.Also all hot and bothered.
- hot and heavy, Informal. in an intense, vehement, or passionate manner: They argued hot and heavy for 20 minutes.
- hot under the collar. collar(def 23).
- make it hot for, Informal. to make something unpleasant for; cause trouble for: Ever since their argument the principal has been making it hot for the new teacher.
adjective hotter or hottest
- having a relatively high temperature
- having a temperature higher than desirable
- causing or having a sensation of bodily heat
- causing a burning sensation on the tonguehot mustard; a hot curry
- expressing or feeling intense emotion, such as embarrassment, anger, or lust
- intense or vehementa hot argument
- recent; fresh; newa hot trial; hot from the press
- ball games (of a ball) thrown or struck hard, and so difficult to respond to
- much favoured or approveda hot tip; a hot favourite
- informal having a dangerously high level of radioactivitya hot laboratory
- slang (of goods or money) stolen, smuggled, or otherwise illegally obtained
- slang (of people) being sought by the police
- informal sexually attractive
- (of a colour) intense; strikinghot pink
- close or following closelyhot on the scent
- informal at a dangerously high electric potentiala hot terminal
- physics having an energy level higher than that of the ground statea hot atom
- slang impressive or good of its kind (esp in the phrase not so hot)
- jazz slang arousing great excitement or enthusiasm by inspired improvisation, strong rhythms, etc
- informal dangerous or unpleasant (esp in the phrase make it hot for someone)
- (in various searching or guessing games) very near the answer or object to be found
- metallurgy (of a process) at a sufficiently high temperature for metal to be in a soft workable state
- Australian and NZ informal (of a price, charge, etc) excessive
- give it hot or give it to someone hot to punish or thrash someone
- hot on informal
- very severethe police are hot on drunk drivers
- particularly skilled at or knowledgeable abouthe’s hot on vintage cars
- hot under the collar informal aroused with anger, annoyance, etc
- in hot water informal in trouble, esp with those in authority
adverb
- in a hot manner; hotly
adj.Old English hat “hot, flaming, opposite of cold,” also “fervent, fierce, intense, excited,” from Proto-Germanic *haita- (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian het, Old Norse heitr, Middle Dutch and Dutch heet, German heiß “hot,” Gothic heito “heat of a fever”), from PIE root *kai- “heat” (cf. Lithuanian kaistu “to grow hot”). The association of hot with sexuality dates back to c.1500. Taste sense of “pungent, acrid, biting” is from 1540s. Sense of “exciting, remarkable, very good” is 1895; that of “stolen” is first recorded 1925 (originally with overtones of “easily identified and difficult to dispose of”); that of “radioactive” is from 1942. Hot flashes in the menopausal sense attested from 1887. Hot air “unsubstantiated statements, boastful talk” is from 1900. Hot stuff for anything good or excellent is by 1889. Hot potato in figurative sense is from 1846. The hot and cold in hide-and-seek or guessing games are from hunting (1640s), with notion of tracking a scent. Cause trouble or discomfort for someone, as in They made it so hot for Larry that he had to resign, or The police were making it hot for shoplifters. This seemingly modern idiom was first recorded in 1618. In addition to the idioms beginning with hot
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