hot

a. [ Compar. Hotter superl. Hottest ] [ OE. hot, hat, AS. hāt; akin to OS. hēt, D. heet, OHG. heiz, G. heiss, Icel. heitr, Sw. het, Dan. heed, hed; cf. Goth. heitō fever, hais torch. Cf. Heat. ] 1. Having much sensible heat; exciting the feeling of warmth in a great degree; very warm; -- opposed to cold, and exceeding warm in degree; as, a hot stove; hot water or air. “A hotvenison pasty.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Characterized by heat, ardor, or animation; easily excited; firely; vehement; passionate; violent; eager. [ 1913 Webster ]

Achilles is impatient, hot, and revengeful. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

There was mouthing in hot haste. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Lustful; lewd; lecherous. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Acrid; biting; pungent; as, hot as mustard. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hot bed (Iron Manuf.), an iron platform in a rolling mill, on which hot bars, rails, etc., are laid to cool. --
Hot wall (Gardening), a wall provided with flues for the conducting of heat, to hasten the growth of fruit trees or the ripening of fruit. --
Hot well (Condensing Engines), a receptacle for the hot water drawn from the condenser by the air pump. This water is returned to the boiler, being drawn from the hot well by the feed pump. --
In hot water (Fig.), in trouble; in difficulties. [ Colloq. ]

Syn. -- Burning; fiery; fervid; glowing; eager; animated; brisk; vehement; precipitate; violent; furious; ardent; fervent; impetuous; irascible; passionate; hasty; excitable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Gardening) A bed of earth heated by fermenting manure or other substances, and covered with glass, intended for raising early plants, or for nourishing exotics. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A place which favors rapid growth or development; as, a hotbed of sedition. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Blast. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having hot blood; excitable; high-spirited; irritable; ardent; passionate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Ardent in temper; violent; rash; impetuous; as, hot-brained youth. Dryden.

ety>[ After Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826-85), American inventor. ] A built-up, rifled, rapid-fire gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moves horizontally or vertically in a mortise cut completely through the jacket. It is made in France. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ } n. [ F. hochepot, fr. hocher to shake + pot pot; both of Dutch or German origin; cf. OD. hutspot hotchpotch, D. hotsen, hutsen, to shake. See Hustle, and Pot, and cf. Hodgepodge. ] 1. A mingled mass; a confused mixture; a stew of various ingredients; a hodgepodge. [ 1913 Webster ]

A mixture or hotchpotch of many tastes. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A blending of property for equality of division, as when lands given in frank-marriage to one daughter were, after the death of the ancestor, blended with the lands descending to her and to her sisters from the same ancestor, and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters. In modern usage, a mixing together, or throwing into a common mass or stock, of the estate left by a person deceased and the amounts advanced to any particular child or children, for the purpose of a more equal division, or of equalizing the shares of all the children; the property advanced being accounted for at its value when given. Bouvier. Tomlins. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This term has been applied in cases of salvage. Story. It corresponds in a measure with collation in the civil and Scotch law. See Collation. Bouvier. Tomlins. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Hot + cockle, cockle being perh. corrupt. fr. knuckle. Cf. F. main chaude (lit., hot hand) hotcockles. ] A childish play, in which one covers his eyes, and guesses who strikes him or his hand placed behind him. [ 1913 Webster ]