hot spot

hot spot

noun

Definition of HOT SPOT

1

: a place of more than usual interest, activity, or popularity <birding hot spots>

2

: a place in the upper mantle of the earth at which hot magma from the lower mantle upwells to melt through the crust usually in the interior of a tectonic plate to form a volcanic feature; also : a place in the crust overlying a hot spot

3

: an area of political, military, or civil unrest usually considered dangerous <global hot spots>

Examples of HOT SPOT

1. The new restaurant is the latest hot spot in town.
2. This part of the country is a hot spot of rebel activity.

First Known Use of HOT SPOT

1929

hot spot

noun    (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of HOT SPOT

1

: a patch of painful moist inflamed skin on a domestic animal and especially a dog that starts as a response to a skin irritant (as an allergen or an insect or tick bite), that is rapidly worsened by scratching, chewing, or licking the affected area, and that may become seriously infected if not promptly cleaned and medicated

2

: a site in genetic material (as DNA or a chromosome) having a high frequency of mutation or recombination

hot spot

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Region of the Earth's upper mantle that upwells to melt through the crust to form a volcanic feature. Most volcanoes that cannot be ascribed either to a subduction zone or to seafloor spreading at midocean ridges are attributed to hot spots. The 5% of known world volcanoes not closely related to such plate margins (see plate tectonics) are regarded as hot-spot volcanoes. Hawaiian volcanoes are the best examples of this type, occurring near the centre of the northern portion of the Pacific Plate. A chain of extinct volcanoes or volcanic islands (and seamounts), such as the Hawaiian chain, can form over millions of years where a lithospheric plate moves over a hot spot. The active volcanoes all lie at one end of the chain or ridge, and the ages of the islands or the ridge increase with their distance from those sites of volcanic activity.