a bottomless, boxlike, usually glass-covered structure and the bed of earth it covers, heated typically by fermenting manure or electrical cables, for growing plants out of season.
a place or environment favoring rapid growth or spread, especially of something disliked or unwanted: a hotbed of disease.
Slang. a bed shared by two or more persons in shifts, each sleeping in it for or at a designated time and then vacating it for the next occupant.
verb (used without object),hot·bed·ded,hot·bed·ding.
Slang. to share a bed in shifts, so that it is always occupied.
Origin of hotbed
First recorded in 1620–30; hot + bed
Words nearby hotbed
hot-air balloon, Hotan, hot and bothered, hot and heavy, hot as blazes, hotbed, hot-blooded, hotbox, hot-bulb engine, hot buttered rum, hot-button
Definition for hotbed (2 of 2)
hot bed
nounMetalworking.
an area having rails or rolls on which rolled pieces are laid to cool.