to drive a hot rod.
to drive very fast.
to drive (a vehicle) very fast.
to adapt (a vehicle or its engine) for increased speed.
An Americanism dating back to 1940–45
First recorded in 1945–50
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Songs such as Surfin' Safari, Surfin' USA, Fun, Fun, Fun, I Get Around, and Help Me Rhonda celebrated the teenage dreams of surfing, hot rod racing and first romance.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2025
“We had a good race car and what keeps me alive is driving this hot rod and all these fans,” Force said.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2024
“I’ve got my hot rod down on Bond Street. I’m older but you’ll know me in a glance. We’ll find us a Little rock ‘n roll bar and we’ll go out and dance.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Ford Motor is joining rival General Motors in the U.S. supercar ranks with the launch of the 2025 Mustang GTD, a limited-edition, high-performance hot rod priced from $300,000.
From Reuters ● Aug. 19, 2023
Bridget pleaded, leaning the hot rod on its kickstand.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Phillips: “American Graffiti” is the quintessential hot-rod movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2023
Another binder: Photos of when Robbie was the only Black member of a local hot-rod club, the Igniters.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 15, 2023
Meanwhile, nutty Euron and the hot-rod Golden Company ships-for-hire are heading to King’s Landing, and Yara, Euron’s captive, is tied miserably to a pole.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 15, 2019
“Let’s be honest, though: When it comes to fun, fun, fun, these silly hot-rod movies are unrivaled. It hardly matters that movie No. 8, ‘The Fate of the Furious,’ doesn’t offer much new or different.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2017
"Jonner, I figured you the last man ever to desert the rockets for a hot-rod tow-job," chided Russo Baat, captain of the Mars Corporation's gleaming new freighter, Marsward XVIII.
From Atom Drive by Fontenay, Charles Louis
Several hot-rodded guitars played by Eddie Van Halen fill another corner, while microphones used by Nirvana and Stevie Wonder are also within reach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
The Instinct Pro feels like Scuf essentially hot-rodded a stock Xbox controller, but like any boutique item, it comes with a massive cost.
From The Verge ● May 25, 2022
There are Chrysler Pacificas, and Jaguar I-Paces, is there some reason I can’t buy a hot-rodded self-driving Chrysler Pacifica today?
From The Verge ● Oct. 5, 2021
As the cars went into the second lap, a white Pontiac Tempest sedan hot-rodded past everyone into the lead.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dylan offers no introduction or contextualizing chit-chat, hot-rodding straight into an essay about “Detroit City,” a 1963 hit by country singer Bobby Bare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
Arkus-Duntov conceded that image-conscious drivers would not accept dowdy Chevrolets as a framework for hot-rodding.
From New York Times ● Sep. 10, 2020
He really did move to Hollywood and ingratiate himself with Southern California’s hot-rodding racing scene.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2019
The Beach Boys had been doing well enough with ditties about surfing and hot-rodding when, in 1964, they released a real smash.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 8, 2016
A hot-rodding kid gunned his fans up the street a way and ripped what silence might have remained to the night into shreds as he streaked past me.
From Modus Vivendi by Berryman, John
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.
