hot line—
1. direct line of communication between heads of governments:
- President Richard Nixon also used the hot line during tensions between India and Pakistan in 1971.
2. a direct telephone communication channel; an emergency telephone counseling service:
- Your relatives are welcome to use our hot line to learn about the patients’ state.
Cf.: warm line—telephone service designed to solve relatively minor problems:
- Organizers call it a “warm line” instead of a hot line because it’s a place where teens call long before it’s a life-or-death situation.
hot wire—part of electrical instruments whose resistance changes with changing temperature:
- The turbulence data were measured inside the jet stream by the use of hot wire equipment.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the verbal phrase hot wire—start a car without a key:
- Lefty hot wired the car and used it for an hour or two.