hot-wire
Americanverb (used with object)
adjective
verb
Etymology
Origin of hot-wire
First recorded in 1950–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Their work also incorporates a technique called hot-wire laser irradiation.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2026
“He also told me of the struggles they were having with their equipment — having to hot-wire vehicles just to get from one part of the airport to the other,” Mr. Lopez said.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
Some Taliban fighters stood hunched over the engines or tried to hot-wire every vehicle they saw.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2021
Newer cars, equipped with high-tech keys and immobilizer systems, are impossible to hot-wire.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 24, 2011
Every instinct told him to run out of school, hot-wire the El Camino, and chase them across the entire state of North Carolina if he had to.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
He's a journalist, a publisher, an editor, and he's sitting in prison in Great Britain being hot-wired for transportation to the United States.
From Salon ● May 31, 2023
Vehicles made by Hyundai Motor America and Kia America that did not have push-button ignitions became part of a TikTok challenge because they were more vulnerable to being hot-wired.
From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2023
Whether you favor Gustav Moller’s 2018 Danish drama, “The Guilty,” or the Netflix remake of the same name will depend on whether you prefer your thrillers acoustic or electric, chilly or hot-wired.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2021
It is a respectful seated portrait suggesting the God-fearing Parliamentarian was uncomfortable doing away with a man widely believed to be hot-wired to God.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2017
And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt- rock stations from D.C.
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
This is more of an old-style hot-wiring of a car than a high-tech computer issue.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 17, 2023
Older vehicles, which often lack alarms or modern security systems that prevent hot-wiring, remain among the most popular to steal.
From New York Times ● Oct. 29, 2022
Three Kings would become a hit with critics, who praised Russell’s talent for hot-wiring together dark comedy, breakneck action, and preach-free political commentary.
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2019
Kogi is credited with hot-wiring the Twitterization of American cooking, the food-truck craze and the shotgun marriage of Korean flavors and the L.A. street taco.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2014
In the Big House’s driveway, Connor and Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin were hot-wiring the camp’s SUV Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, waved at me from her pegasus as she flew past.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
