white heat

See synonyms for white heat on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a stage of intense activity, excitement, feeling, etc.: The sales campaign is at white heat.

  2. an intense heat at which a substance glows with white light.

Origin of white heat

1
First recorded in 1700–10

Words Nearby white heat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use white heat in a sentence

  • "Really, you ought to write all this," exclaimed Aunt Maria, her imagination fired to a white heat.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • As supper-time came, they set this heap afire and let it burn for an hour or two, until the great flat ledge was at a white heat.

    The Rival Campers | Ruel Perley Smith
  • The door swung open—no mosquitoes were stirring in that white heat—and the sun slanted inward with long dazzling rays.

    Menotah | Ernest G. Henham
  • A burst of white heat rolled out of the gun, licking around Rudi.

    Second Variety | Philip Kindred Dick
  • Nations are benefited, I believe, for ages, by being thrown once into divine white-heat in this manner.

British Dictionary definitions for white heat

white heat

noun
  1. intense heat or a very high temperature, characterized by emission of white light

  2. informal a state of intense excitement or activity

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012