hot bed: Meaning and Definition of

hot' bed"

Pronunciation: [key]
— Metalworking. Metalworking.
  1. an area having rails or rolls on which rolled pieces are laid to cool.

hot•bed

Pronunciation: (hot'bed"), [key]
— n., v., -bed•ded, -bed•ding.
—n.
  1. a bottomless, boxlike, usually glass-covered structure and the bed of earth it covers, heated typically by fermenting manure or electrical cables, for growing plants out of season.
  2. a place or environment favoring rapid growth or spread, esp. of something disliked or unwanted: a hotbed of disease.
  3. a bed shared by two or more persons in shifts, each sleeping in it for or at a designated time and then vacating it for the next occupant.
—v.i.
  1. to share a bed in shifts, so that it is always occupied.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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