hot-wire

American

[hot-wahyuhr, hot-wahy^uhr] / ˈhɒtˈwaɪər, ˈhɒtˌwaɪər /

verb (used with object)

hot-wired, hot-wiring

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.

hot-wire British

verb

slang (tr) to start the engine of (a motor vehicle) by bypassing the ignition switch

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023