hotbed
- 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.
- Slang. to share a bed in shifts, so that it is always occupied.
Origin of hotbed
Related Words for hotbed
headquarters, hotbed, heart, place, hub, sanctuary, nest, cave, kernel, essence, focus, seat, pivot, midst, axis, interior, core, gist, midpoint, nucleusExamples from the Web for hotbed
Contemporary Examples of hotbed
Baseball has long been the most popular sport in Cuba and the island has long been a hotbed of baseball talent.
In the early 1960s Cambridge University was a hotbed of cultural and social insurrection.
It is also overwhelmingly pro-regime, and since the start of Syrian unrest the region has become a hotbed of pro-Assad activity.
The Gorge has always been a hotbed of radicalism and arms smuggling, but now it is fast becoming a shahid factory.
Ipanema has long been the hotbed of beach apparel, launching looks like the tanga and the g-string.
The Girl From Ipanema Is Not Alone: Rio’s Famous Beach Is A Rich, Cultural KaleidoscopeBrandon Presser
June 23, 2014
Historical Examples of hotbed
Sects were springing up all over England as weeds in a hotbed.
BunyanJames Anthony Froude
If there is no greenhouse, a hotbed is an important help in the garden.
Agriculture for BeginnersCharles William Burkett
Industry—and the engineer is the backbone of industry—is a hotbed of competition.
Opportunities in EngineeringCharles M. Horton
It is a hotbed of heathen enthusiasm and of blinded devotion.
A Tour of the MissionsAugustus Hopkins Strong
A corrupt, unregenerate heart, which is a hotbed and nursery of the devil.
SanctificationJ. W. Byers
hotbed
- a glass-covered bed of soil, usually heated by fermenting material, used for propagating plants, forcing early vegetables, etc
- a place offering ideal conditions for the growth of an idea, activity, etc, esp one considered bada hotbed of insurrection