hot spotn.
/ˈhɒt ˌspɒt/, U.S. /ˈhɑt ˌspɑt/ I. General uses.
1.
a. A dangerous place, esp. one in which armed conflict is taking place; a difficult or dangerous situation or position (cf. hot adj. 9b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [noun] > instance or cause of > dangerous place
the lion's moutha1225
unsanctuary?1617
Indian country1625
in the lion's paws1629
witch's cauldron1816
hot spot1837
no man's land1926
red zone1942
trouble spot1956
1837 New Sporting Mag. Mar. 165 Reynard meanwhile, his course now run, undone, Seeks shelter in the shepherd's cot;—hot spot For him! where soon the pack smack whack Into him.
1882 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island xxv, in Young Folks 7 Jan. 8 If Flint was living, this would be a hot spot for you and me.
1887 Cent. Mag. Sept. 790/2 Fort Haskell was the size of an ocean steamer's deck, and one may imagine that scores of cannon and hundreds of rifles playing upon such a space for hours would make it a hot spot.
1941 Illustr. London News 199 200 (caption) Miss Cowles, an American journalist, whose pre-war assignments took her to most of the ‘hot-spots’ of Europe [sc. Prague, Berlin, Warsaw, etc.].
1966 Economist 19 Feb. 711/2 The Administration wanted to distinguish financially between men who had been in ‘hot spots’ and those who had only served in non-combat zones.
1973 G. Beare Snake on Grave xii. 62 You're putting yourself on the hot~spot, Sammy.
1992 TV Scene (Brisbane) 22 Mar. 5/1 He's hooked on war zones. He's been to almost every hotspot around the globe.
b. Originally and chiefly U.S. A nightclub or similar establishment, esp. one which is lively or exciting.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > nightlife > [noun] > nightclub
finish1796
café chantant1854
nightclub1871
bottle party1903
lokal1903
cabaret1912
boîte1922
supper club1927
nitery1929
hot spot1930
spot1930
clip-joint1933
nightspot1936
night box1938
Nachtlokal1939
partouze1959
1930 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 15 Dec. 3/6 The Tub, ‘Mr. Zero's’ old haven for bums, is now one of 2nd Avenue's better hotspots.
1940 Time 15 Apr. 98/2 Eschewing Hollywood hotspots, they prefer at-homes with the quieter younger set.
1954 Manch. Guardian Weekly 26 Aug. 7/1 Intellectuals..went on a kind of jazz-slumming in the Harlem hot spots.
1978 Newsweek (U.S. ed.) (Nexis) 26 June 66 Caroline's newly discovered appetite for late-night hot spots like Castel's and Regine's..left her so far behind in her studies that she finally abandoned her work at the Institute of Political Sciences.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 6 July 22/1 Then it's on to Pink Elephant..a Chelsea hot spot that blows pheromone-laced scents into writhing dancers while they suck down pricey bottle-service beverages.
2. A small area in a surface or object that is at a higher temperature than its surroundings.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > [noun] > small hot area
hot spot1838
1838 J. Jeanes Homœopathic Pract. Med. vi. 79 After a time the pain seated itself entirely in the forehead, on which a hot spot could be felt.
1868 C. W. Eliot & F. H. Storer Compend. Man. Qualitative Chem. Anal. App. 26 If the heat does not produce a crack, a wet stick or file may be touched upon the hot spot.
1919 G. Kapp Princ. Electr. Engin. II. vi. 143 The average internal temperature of a winding can be more accurately deduced from a resistance test, whilst for the discovery of so called ‘hot spots’ thermo-couples must be used.
1936 D. M. Robinson Dielectric Phenomena in High Voltage Cables ii. 16 A cable subjected to excess voltage may develop local hot spots.
1970 Times 30 Oct. 23/2 A small..infra-red television camera..for detecting the ‘hot spots’ in overhead power lines and substations.
2005 Jrnl. Exper. Marine Biol. & Ecol. 315 169/1 Thermal image analyses in which areas along the hips and shoulders [of sea lions] were designated hot spots.
II. Specialized uses.
3. Physiology. Any circumscribed area of the skin having a high concentration of sensory receptors (thermoreceptors) that respond to heat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > part of body > [noun] > surface > sensitive points on
pressure point1882
pressure spot1887
hot spot1888
pain spot1888
cold spot1895
pain point1897
touch spot1897
1888 W. Stirling tr. L. Landois Text-bk. Human Physiol. (ed. 3) xiv. 836 The chain of the ‘cold-spots’ usually does not coincide with those of the ‘hot-spots’ [1886 (ed. 2): ‘heat-points’; Ger. Wärmepunkte].
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 97/1 There are points [on the skin], stimulated by addition of heat, hot spots, while others are stimulated by withdrawal of heat, cold spots.
1926 S. Wright Appl. Physiol. i. 21 If all the ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots are marked out, the areas of skin between them are found to be insensitive to punctate thermal stimuli.
1977 Progress Neurobiol. 9 11 Cold spots are more densely distributed on the skin..than are hot spots.
4. Metallurgy. A localized region in molten metal that is of higher temperature and is slow to solidify; a region corresponding to this in an ingot or casting, typically porous or with a tear.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > metal in specific state or form > [noun] > cast metal > other parts of casting
skin1786
head metal1854
hot spot1908
1908 B. Stoughton Metall. Iron & Steel xii. 349 These localities, where the segregation is high, and which are known, when very bad, as ‘hot spots’, are sometimes porous or surrounded by porous parts of the casting.
1950 J. S. Campbell Casting & Forming Processes ix. 77 For many metals such as aluminum and magnesium it is good practice to gate into the castings at several places as a help in avoiding hot spots and in filling the mold cavity.
2002 U. Chandra & A. Ahmed in Kuang-Oscar Yu Modeling for Casting & Solidification Processing iii. 59 The hot spot shown in Fig. 3a is a potential site for hot tears in addition to, of course, porosity.
5. The localized part of a cathode with which an electric arc is in contact and from which electrons are emitted.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > rectifier > parts of mercury arc rectifier
hot spot1915
pool cathode1931
igniter1933
1915 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 92 133 The general effect is much as though the hot spot upon the negative pole acts as a nozzle through which a stream of negative electricity is discharged, the arc developing whenever this stream falls upon another conductor connected to the opposite terminal of the source of current supply.
1937 W. G. Dow Fund. Engin. Electronics xix. 426 The cathode ‘hot spots’ of mercury-pool-type mercury vapor rectifiers dodge about erratically on the mercury surface.
1954 J. H. Harley & S. E. Wiberley Instrum. Anal. viii. 144 The arc stream..is formed between the anode and a small spot on the cathode. This hot spot wanders from place to place on the cathode, causing a change in the electrode temperature.
1993 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 10) I. iv. 204 The igniter is immersed in the mercury cathode, and when a current is passed through it a ‘hot spot’ is formed on the surface of the pool.
6. Engineering. In an internal combustion engine: a portion of the manifold or combustion chamber that is heated in order to facilitate vaporization of the liquid fuel; (also) a region of overheating that tends to cause pre-ignition.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > internal-combustion engine > [noun] > parts of > combustion chamber > part of
cylinder head1884
hot spot1917
1917 Des Moines (Iowa) News 2 Dec. 7/8 No matter how cold it may be this winter, the Chalmers owner will have at least one ‘hot spot’. This will be in the throat of his carburetor, where it will heat and crack the incoming gas and pass it on..thru the air heads of the ramshorn manifold.
1929 Times 2 Nov. 4/7 The inlet manifold is jointed to the exhaust centrally, and thus a hot-spot is provided.
1934 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 38 960 Thus making absolutely sure of high compression without hot spots acting as sparks in the combustion chamber.
1968 Practical Motorist Dec. 459/1 A thermostatically controlled flap..diverts the mixture away from the hot spot once the engine is running at normal temperature.
1991 M. Williams Tractors since 1889 iii. 72 Semi-diesel are compression-ignition engines which rely on a hot spot inside the combustion chamber to help ignite the fuel charge.
7. Astronomy. A region in the sun's corona (generally associated with a solar flare) that is temporarily at a higher temperature than normal and is emitting a characteristic spectrum of radiation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sun > solar activity > [noun] > solar flare
hot spot1936
flare1937
solar flare1938
1936 Harvard Coll. Observatory Circular No. 410. 22 This region [of the chromosphere] appears to be one of abnormal excitation, possibly caused by a ‘hot spot’ near the limb of the sun at the time of the eclipse.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XIII. 282/2 Coronal hot spots, indicated by emission of the yellow line of Ca XV at 5694 A.., have been found in all spectrographic observations of the corona over a limb flare.
1997 N. M. Kay Pattern in Corporate Evol. ix. 196 Unusual activity in the sun's corona in the form of a solar flare is associated with a rise in temperature over the local hot spot.
8. Forestry. A particularly active part of a forest fire.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > a fire > [noun] > a kind of fire > destructive > bush or forest fire > active part of
hot spot1938
1938 Fire Control Notes Oct. 26 This work includes such jobs as..burning out material between the line and the fire edge, and reduction of hot spots.
1969 Science 31 Oct. 553/1 Under carefully prescribed conditions for burning, ground fuels could be reduced effectively and cheaply and..create sufficiently hot spots of fire to provide good reseeding conditions for sequoia.
2001 National Post (Canada) 30 May a1/4 Fire crews..worked to contain outbreaks of spot fires and ‘smokers’, smoldering hot spots that threatened to flare up and burn again.
9. Photography. An area of excessive illumination in an image or a scene to be captured in an image.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > qualities and effects > [noun] > bright part
highlight1658
hot spot1971
1939 C. Dreher in K. Henney & B. Dudley Handbk. Photogr. xxiii. 686 The basic characteristics of a good lamp for motion-picture photography [include]..accurately adjustable directivity and beam width, without dark centers, hot rings, hot spots, or other nonuniformities.
1971 L. B. Happé Basic Motion Pict. Technol. vii. 218 A brighter central area, or hot spot, is particularly obvious when a short focal length lens is used on a camera and a long focal length on the projector.
2004 Nat. New Eng. Winter 51/2 A large flashlight..can be angled so the light falls indirectly on the subject, allowing enough light to focus, but avoiding any ‘hotspots’ that might not be totally eliminated by the flash.
10. Nuclear Physics and Radiology. An area where the radiation level is much higher than in the surroundings; a local concentration of radioactivity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > [noun] > area of high radioactivity
hot spot1955
1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Feb. 46/2 One would expect ‘hot spots’ even far downwind but since the history of the bomb cloud would already be several hours ‘old’ by then, there would be a corresponding drop in intensity.
1955 Sci. Amer. Aug. 37/1 A particularly malignant feature of some of the radioisotopes is their tendency to concentrate in ‘hot spots’ instead of distributing themselves evenly through the bone.
1976 Maclean's 9 Feb. 21/1 Technicians combing the streets with Geiger counters..turned up ‘hot spots’ in more than 60 buildings.
1980 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 29 Mar. 883/2 Bone metastases may be detected early as areas of increased isotope uptake (‘hot spots’) on scintigrams.
2004 Osiris 19 168 Infants who had been living in a radiation hotspot..might well have received I-131 doses anywhere from 150 to 750 times existing annual permissible doses.
11. Genetics. A site in a gene or a chromosome, often typified by highly repetitive sequence, at which the frequency of spontaneous mutation (or recombination) is increased in comparison with other sites in the same gene or chromosome.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > gene > parts of gene
protosome1931
hot spot1958
homeobox1984
1958 S. Benzer & E. Freese in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 44 115 A striking feature of the map is the existence of certain ‘hot spots’, where mutations recur with high probability.
1964 W. Hayes Genetics of Bacteria & their Viruses viii. 171 Out of 1,612 spontaneous mutations..more than 500 occur at a single site or ‘hot spot’ in the B cistron.
1997 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94 8058/1 Crossovers are initiated at specific sites called hotspots.
2005 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Oct. 62/2 Individuals who harbor hot-spot mutations are usually not related to one another.
12. Veterinary Medicine. A localized, often intensely itchy, area of skin irritation or infection in an animal (esp. a cat or dog) having a variety of causes, including allergic reactions and parasite infestation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of animals generally > [noun] > skin diseases
scabc1386
roinc1400
mangea1425
manginessa1425
scurfc1440
hot spot1967
1967 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 26 Feb. 24/1 The term ‘Hot Spot’ usually refers to a localized, rather discrete, moist, reddened area of the skin.
1980 D. G. Carlson Dog Owner's Home Vet. Handbk. iv. 93 Hot spots..warm painful, swollen patches of skin which exude pus and give off a foul odour..are more common among breeds with heavy coats.
2007 New Yorker 26 Mar. 76/3 Go-Go, Fran explains, is..their cat, who recently contracted a hot spot. A hot spot..is an itch that can't be scratched.
13. Geology. A location where a mantle plume rises below the earth's surface, giving rise to a chain of volcanic activity in the tectonic plate passing over it.The concept of such hot spots originated with J. Tuzo Wilson in 1963 ( Canad. Jrnl. Physics 41 863–70), but he did not use the term.
ΚΠ
1968 Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union 49 214/1 Magmatic pulsations from the ‘hot spot’ produced volcanic islands, now the Emperor seamounts, which were displaced northward on the spreading sea floor.
1989 Omni Aug. 68/3 Volcanoes are rooted in the boundaries of geological structures called tectonic plates and fed by mysterious ‘hot spots’ where magma pools in bubbling reservoirs.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Apr. 24/4 The islands of the Hawaiian chain get steadily younger from north-west to south-east, because the plate on which they sit is moving over an underlying ‘hot spot’.
14. Ecology. A locality or region with very high biodiversity; spec. one that has a high proportion of endemic species and is under threat. More fully biodiversity hotspot.A biodiversity hotspot has been defined as having at least 1500 species of endemic vascular plants and having lost at least 70 per cent of its original habitat.
ΚΠ
1976 Science 10 Sept. 1028/1 ‘Hot spots’ of locally high resource production may be important hedges against extinction.]
1985 E. O. Wilson in BioScience 35 702/1 Hot spots of disproportionately high diversity of plants and animals occur within larger rainforests.
1993 Conservation Biol. 7 208/3 He reaches far and wide to illuminate his message, describing biodiversity hot spots under siege around the world.
1997 B. McCrea et al. S. Afr.: Rough Guide 104 The smallest and richest of the floral kingdoms; its 8500 species make it one of the world's biodiversity hot spots.
2005 New Scientist 19 Feb. 82 (advt.) A contribution to the understanding of the biodiversity of the Western Ghats hotspot.
15. Computing. An area on a computer screen which can be clicked on to activate a function; spec. an image or piece of text acting as a hyperlink. Also: the active point on a cursor, such as the tip of an arrow.
ΚΠ
1988 Courier-Mail (Queensland) 19 Apr. 33 Felix uses the same movement as a pen and has a unique feature called ‘Hot Spots’ selected by cursor, which when clicked-on, activate pre-set command macros.
1992 InfoWorld (Nexis) 19 Oct. 22 The ‘hot spot’ of the pointers—where your mouse actually ‘clicks’—is indicated by an ‘X’ in the upper-left corner.
1997 ‘Q’ Deadmeat 379 ‘This is where you can help us,’ said Scotto, clicking on a hot spot on the web site.
2004 Church Times 18 June 19/4 Image maps provide areas that link to other URLs (known as hotspots).
16. Computing. A public place where a wireless internet signal is available and the internet can be accessed.
ΚΠ
1999 Business Wire (Nexis) 11 May The solution..enables in-building public wireless hotspots such as airport lounges, providing wireless portable computer connectivity.
2003 Wall St. Jrnl. 5 Nov. d4/1 I tested two methods of finding Wi-Fi hot spots: Web sites that let you search for locations and a device that ‘sniffs’ for Wi-Fi and notifies you when a signal is near.
2006 Daily Tel. 7 Mar. b9/1 The UK has about 12,500 hotspots and, as wi-fi's range steadily increases, these will multiply.
Derivatives
ˈhot-ˌspotting n. the treatment, investigation, or occurrence of hot spots; spec. (see quot. 1953).
ΚΠ
1940 Fire Control Notes July 141 It is well for the scout to carry a pulaski or light ax for blazing or hot-spotting.
1953 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol.: Pt. I (Empire Forestry Assoc.) 77 Hot-spotting, checking the spread of fire on hot spots alone or at salient points, as an emergency measure employed in advance of control-line construction.
1984 K. F. Wenger Forestry Handbk. v. 217 Hotspotting often can be accomplished best by air tankers, helitankers, or helitack crews.
1997 Sci. Amer (U.K. ed.) Apr. 18/3 Wessel and Kroenke automated their hot-spotting procedure and applied it to the vast set of Pacific seamounts.
2000 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 456 2800 (caption) Evidence of hot spotting on a clutch disc.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1837