hot spot

noun hot spots · hotspot

1. A location which has a higher temperature or amount of radiation than surrounding areas. [Y]our microwave may have an area in which more energy is concentrated. To test for a hot spot, place sliced white bread across the bottom of your microwave, so that the slices are touching, forming a solid layer.
2. A part of a forest fire which is burning actively.
3. The surface manifestation of a plume of molten material that rises from deep in a celestial body's mantle. While researchers can see the path that Yellowstone burned as the hot spot migrated from Oregon across Idaho and into Wyoming, discerning one eruption from another has been a chore as most volcanic deposits are scattered across vast landscapes in a chaotic jumble.
4. An area of high radioactive contamination.
5. Synonym of heiligenschein (“an optical phenomenon which creates a bright spot around the shadow of the viewer's head, when the surface on which the shadow falls has special optical characteristics”).

   Similar: heiligenschein

6. An infected lesion in dogs or other furry mammals caused by excessive itching.
7. figuratively A place notable for a high level of activity or danger. Great guns! messmates, but if Flint was living, this would be a hot spot for you and me. Six they were, and six are we; and bones is what they are now.
8. figuratively A dangerous place of violent political unrest.

   Similar: flash point, trouble spot

9. figuratively A lively and entertaining place, such as a nightclub. It has been reported that an entertainment took place not long ago in a certain "hot spot" in New York City, and it has been charged that members of the Federal Communications Commission were present; that they got into a drunken brawl; and in the brawl some woman was hurt, her arm twisted.
10. figuratively A part of an application that consumes a significant amount of execution time.
11. figuratively A part of a control (“an interactive interface element”) that responds dynamically as a user moves a pointer over it (for example, a part of an image map that contains a hyperlink which can be clicked on with a cursor).
12. Internet, figuratively A location in which Wi-Fi Internet access is available.

    Opposite: notspot

13. abbreviation, ellipsis, figuratively Ellipsis of biodiversity hotspot (“a place with a significant level of biodiversity, particularly if the flora and fauna are threatened with loss of their habitat”).
14. figuratively The region of a gene in which there is a higher than normal rate of mutation.