red hot
3
8.2
- noun
- /ˈrɛd hɑt/
- US
:
hot dog
- At the county fair, I enjoyed a delicious red hot topped with mustard and onions.
- get a red hot
Examples
-
Y'all, don't forget to try one of Uncle Fred's yummy red hots while you're here.
-
He stood in front of a barbecue grill turning T-bone steaks, long red hot dogs, and hamburger patties.
Fiction book (1990) -
I had some red hots.
-
Hey, get your red-hots.
-
The three other weekday afternoons, and also on Saturdays, he worked at the Red Hot Ranch, a hot dog and hamburger joint.
Academic text (2007) -
The food vendor was famous for his red hots, attracting a long line of eager customers.
-
After the game, we grabbed some red hots from the vendor outside the stadium.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'red' (color) and 'hot' (temperature) do partly motivate the sense because a frankfurter can be red in color and served hot, so there is a visible, descriptive link. However, the noun meaning 'a hot dog' is a regional, lexicalized label rather than a fully predictable compositional meaning, so a B1 learner who knows the words would not reliably infer the specific referent without prior exposure.
Etymology
Red hot may come from the bright red skin of old sausages and the fact they were sold very hot in a bun. So today red hot means 'a hot dog'.