# too hot to hold

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/too-hot-to-hold
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A place that has too much police activity to harbor a fugitive unnoticed.

## Examples

- The thief left town because the city was too hot to hold.
- The spy leaves the country because the capital is too hot to hold.
- After the police raided the warehouse, the gang realized the neighborhood was too hot to hold.
- The bank robbers decided to split up because they felt the small village was too hot to hold after the local sheriff started questioning every stranger.
- With undercover officers patrolling every street corner, the smugglers knew their usual meeting spot was now too hot to hold.
- Realizing that the relentless investigation had rendered the entire region too hot to hold, the fugitive fled across the border under the cover of night.

## Origin

The idiom derives from the slang application of the word hot to denote stolen goods. In this context, a thief or fence finds an item too hot to hold when the risks of possession, usually due to police attention or the prominence of the theft, outweigh the potential for profit. The phrase emerged as a description of the immediate physical necessity to divest oneself of such property before it results in a legal complication.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.