Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A heated greenhouse for plants that require an even, relatively warm temperature.
  • noun An environment conducive to vigorous growth or development; a hotbed.
  • adjective Grown in a hothouse.
  • adjective Delicate and sensitive, as if from being grown in a hothouse.
  • transitive verb To cultivate in a hothouse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A house in which to sweat and cup the body; a bath-house.
  • noun A brothel.
  • noun A structure kept artificially heated for the growth of tender exotic plants, or subtropical plants, or for the production of native fruits, flowers, etc., out of season.
  • noun In manufacturing, any heated chamber or building; a drying-room; specifically, the warmest drying-room in which green pottery is dried before going to the kiln.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A house kept warm to shelter tender plants and shrubs from the cold air; a place in which the plants of warmer climates may be reared, and fruits ripened.
  • noun obsolete A bagnio, or bathing house.
  • noun obsolete A brothel; a bagnio.
  • noun (Pottery) A heated room for drying green ware.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A heated greenhouse.
  • noun figuratively An environment in which growth or development is encouraged; a hotbed.
  • noun obsolete A bagnio, or bathing house; a brothel.
  • noun A heated room for drying greenware.
  • verb of a child To provide with an enriched environment with the aim of stimulating academic development.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a greenhouse in which plants are arranged in a pleasing manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hot +‎ house

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Examples

  • The atmosphere was purified in a vast "hothouse" - a large, circular room buried just below the lunar surface.

    2001 A Space Odyssey Clarke, Arthur C. 1968

  • “Saturated in hothouse colors, the three-act “Lantern” is an intense dance-theater version of the multi-award-winning film by Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou (” Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers”).

    Vitro Nasu » 2005 » September 2005

  • “Saturated in hothouse colors, the three-act “Lantern” is an intense dance-theater version of the multi-award-winning film by Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou (” Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers”).

    Raise the Red Lantern & Mosuo Women – A Meditation on Contrast 2005

  • PIJ arose out of a nucleus of Palestinian students at Zakazik University in Egypt, known as a hothouse of religious fanaticism.

    The Secret War with Iran Ronen Bergman 2007

  • PIJ arose out of a nucleus of Palestinian students at Zakazik University in Egypt, known as a hothouse of religious fanaticism.

    The Secret War with Iran Ronen Bergman 2007

  • Edna bent over her flowers, and recognizing many favorites that recalled the hothouse at Le Bocage, her eyes filled with tears, and she hastily put her lips to the snowy cups of an oxalis.

    St. Elmo 1872

  • The result is a kind of hothouse garden of carefully selected rare flora carefully cultivated to see the world from within a beltway perspective.

    Pachacutec: Libby Trial Meta: Bloggers Meet the Press 2008

  • Al-Noor uses a high intensity, competitive "hothouse" program to break the stranglehold for BT's toughest calls.

    Upping Your Complexity Quotient Dr. Saj-nicole Joni 2006

  • That was an astonishing privilege, as children were not allowed in the conservatory, or "hothouse," as one of the boys called it, without an adult.

    The Wizard Of London Lackey, Mercedes 2005

  • Or was it simply the kind of hothouse atmosphere of a Washington summit with the President and the King looking on, and the expectations engendered?

    Background Briefing On Middle East Summit ITY National Archives 1996

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  • Chapter 14, in which WordNet shows a developing sense of aesthetics.

    October 20, 2008