hot water

American  

noun

Informal.

1. trouble; a predicament.

   His skipping classes will get him into real hot water when exam time comes.

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hot water Idioms  

1. Trouble or difficulty, as in She's deep in political hot water, or We got in hot water over the car deal, or He's finally paid his tuition and is out of hot water with the school. This metaphoric term alludes to water hot enough to burn one. [First half of 1500s] Also see in trouble with.

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Etymology

Origin of hot water

First recorded in 1530–40

Example Sentences

"There's hot water. Do you want a bath?"

From Literature

We laid the piece of the box on the table with Anna’s cures and made ourselves a bit of hot water to sip while I told her all that had happened, almost all.

From Literature

This suggests that immersion in hot water may interfere with lice activity or where they lay their eggs.

From Science Daily

We’d apparently run out of hot water while I sat on the floor staring at that message, and I inhaled hard as icy water jolted me out of my preoccupied fog.

From Literature

Bodies are wrapped in a shroud of biodegradable material such as silk or wool before being placed in a pressurised chamber with hot water and chemicals, speeding up decomposition.

From BBC