This week’s theme
Metaphors & idioms

This week’s words
rose-colored
Taj Mahal
hotheaded
chicken feed
third rail

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(HOT-hed-id)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Easily angered.
2. Very angry.
3. Rash.

ETYMOLOGY:

From hot, from Old English hat + head, from Old English heafod (top of the body). Earliest documented use: 1603.

NOTES:

One can use the word literally: “We are hot-headed creatures, which means that a fair proportion of body warmth escapes through the head” (Wash Post), but the word has been used metaphorically for a long time. It’s better to be cool in the head and warm in the heart. Apparently, English speakers have been hotheaded for a while before cooler heads prevailed. The earliest recorded evidence for hotheaded is from 1603 and for cool-headed from 1684. A synonym is hotspur.

USAGE:

“But the government’s response ... shows it sees the revolt as more than a spontaneous outburst by hotheaded, underpaid soldiers.”
Keeping Its Head Above Water; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 13, 2009.

See more usage examples of hotheaded in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: