Meanings
present singular third person hot-wires · participle present hot-wiring · participle past hot-wired · past hot-wired · alternative hotwire
- informaltransitiveTo wire, especially to a power supply, using a makeshift electrical connection.
I bypassed the switch and hot-wired the circuit board to the power supply.
- informaltransitiveIn particular, to start (an automobile engine) by bypassing the ignition key wiring, especially in order to steal the vehicle.
His attitude grew worse and his crimes escalated: he broke into garages in his neighborhood, he hot-wired cars, and his punches grew harder.
2021, Zara Stone, Killer Looks: The Forgotten History of Plastic Surgery in Prisons, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 1481 more example
Never broke into a car, never hotwired a car. Never broke into a truck. 'I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof, nor through inaction let the personal contents thereof come to harm' It's what I call the Repo Code, kid!
1984, Alex Cox, Repo Man, spoken by Bud (Harry Dean Stanton)
Origin
From hot + wire, with hot referring to electrical current.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German kurzschließen
- kurzschließenhot-wire
Norwegian koble
- koblehot-wire
Polish zapalać na kabel, zapalić na kabel
- zapalać na kabelhot-wire
- zapalić na kabelhot-wire
Spanish hacer un puente, hacer puente
- hacer un puentehot-wire
- hacer puentehot-wire
- arrancar haciendo puentehot-wire
- puentearhot-wire
- arrancar puenteandohot-wire
Swedish tjuvkoppla
- tjuvkopplahot-wire
Cite this entry
hot-wire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot-wire
“hot-wire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot-wire. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hot-wire,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot-wire.
Source: hot-wire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.