A place where something undesirable thrives and spreads quickly, or literally a garden bed heated to help plants grow.
Compound of 'hot' and 'bed,' originally referring to heated soil in gardening. By the 1600s, it metaphorically described any environment where something (usually negative) flourishes rapidly.
The word perfectly captures how Victorian gardeners created artificial warmth to grow exotic plants—now we use it for crime hotspots or political unrest, same idea of intensity in a contained space.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.