white-hotadj.
/ˈwʌɪtˌhɒt/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪtˌhɑt/ 1. Esp. of metal or metallic objects: that is so hot as to glow with a white light; at white heat (white heat n. 1). Cf. red-hot adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > [adjective] > having or communicating much heat > specific degree
red-hot?a1425
rubificatea1500
white-hot1587
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > intensity of light, luminosity > [adjective] > luminescent > produced by heat or friction
white-hot1587
incandescent1794
incandescing1874
thermoluminescent1899
triboluminescent1904
tribophosphorescent1904
1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell 146 Put it in a burning ouen, till it be white hote.
a1625 King James vi & i in S. Hartlib Legacy (1655) 75 When they are white hot, a steele instrument will scarce touch them to hurt them.
1768 J. Watt Let. 15 Feb. in E. Robinson & D. McKie Partners in Sci. (1970) 9 The upper part of the furnace..could scarcely be called white hot.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus ii. 36 Innocent Queens o'er white-hot plough-shares tread Unsinged.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. ii. 30 To display all these colours at the same time the..wire must be white-hot.
1947 T. J. Reynolds & E. Kent Struct. Steelwork (ed. 8) iii. 29 The various sections are produced from white-hot steel ingots by passing them through rolls in a rolling mill.
2011 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 28 Nov. (Business section) 3 The heat-suited workers can be seen toiling just a couple of metres above a huge vat of freshly smelted white-hot ferronickel.
2. figurative. Characterized by intensity or vehemence; (esp. of a person or feeling) burning, fervent, passionate. Cf. red-hot adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > passion > ardour or fervour > [adjective] > burning or inflamed (of passions)
chafedc1330
burninga1400
ferventa1400
scaldingc1400
flagrant?1521
frying1587
incensed1612
warmed1700
white-hot1833
afire1846
akindle1869
1833 Boston Courier 24 June He was evidently white hot with wrath.
1857 C. Reade White Lies I. i. 6 Old nations with limited territory and time to heat themselves white hot with the fire of politics.
1890 R. Le Gallienne G. Meredith iv. 73 Not Carlyle himself had a more white-hot hatred of ‘simulacra’.
1940 R. Wright Native Son iii. 318 This hearing was rushed to the top of the calendar so that this boy might be tried while the temper of the people is white-hot.
1979 E. Duffy Rousseau in Eng. iv. 97 The..white-hot energy of his imagination.
2004 J. Denby Billie Morgan xxvii. 222 There was a kind of bright, white-hot joy in discarding reason.
3. hyperbolically. Intensely bright and hot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > light emitted under particular conditions > [adjective] > incandescent
incandescent1794
candescent1824
white-hot1855
incandescing1874
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > [adjective] > having or communicating much heat > very
wall-hotc1000
walm-hotOE
hot as hellOE
welling?a1200
welling hota1400
aestuant?1440
burning1484
scalding?a1513
broiling1555
roasting1567
walming hot1601
boiling hot1607
baking1656
stewing-hot1711
piping1823
grilling1839
seething1848
white-hot1855
stewing1856
incandescent1859
swithering1895
boiling1930
1855 Crayon 17 Jan. 35/2 White-hot misty skies.
1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 15 June in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) v. 318 The interior of the Duomo was deliciously cool..after the white-hot sunshine.
1900 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Jan. 280 What a country!.. Red hot rocks, and white hot sand, eye-searing glare, coarse, sapless grass, mimosa thorn, [etc.]!
1946 E. B. Thompson Amer. Daughter ii. 14 The prairie sun hung suspended in the white-hot sky.
1996 J. T. Hospital Oyster (1997) 209 The white-hot sun, which pushes itself like peppershot through Bernie's blinds.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1587