hot-wire
[ verb hot-wahyuh r; adjective hot-wahyuh r ]
/ verb ˈhɒtˈwaɪər; adjective ˈhɒtˌwaɪər /
verb (used with object), hot-wired, hot-wir·ing.
Slang.
to start the engine of (a motor vehicle) by short-circuiting the ignition.
adjective
Electricity, Engineering.
depending for its operation on the lengthening or increasing resistance of a wire when it is heated: hot-wire anemometer; hot-wire microphone.
Origin of hot-wire
First recorded in 1950–55
Words nearby hot-wire
Example sentences from the Web for hot-wire
The instructors taught me how to pick locks, hot-wire cars and get over barbed wire fences.
Don't operate a transmitting set without a hot-wire ammeter in the aerial.
The Radio Amateur's Hand Book |A. Frederick Collins
British Dictionary definitions for hot-wire
hot-wire
verb
(tr) slang
to start the engine of (a motor vehicle) by bypassing the ignition switch