Meanings
adjectivetoo hot to hold someone
- UKidiomaticA place that has too much police activity to harbor a fugitive unnoticed.
"He made England too hot to hold him, fled to Central America, and died there in 1876 of yellow fever."
1901, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, page 18
Origin
"Hot" items are stolen goods.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
too hot to hold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/too%20hot%20to%20hold
MLA
“too hot to hold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/too%20hot%20to%20hold. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “too hot to hold,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/too%20hot%20to%20hold.
Source: too hot to hold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.