too hot to hold en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
"Hot" items are stolen goods.
Meanings
-
(UK, idiomatic) A place that has too much police activity to harbor a fugitive unnoticed.
"He made England too hot to hold him, fled to Central America, and died there in 1876 of yellow fever."
1901, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, page 18:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| too hot to hold someone | canonical | lexicographic |