# hotter

/ˈhɑtɝ/ (US) · /hˈɒtɐ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/hotter
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 2. a car thief

noun · CEFR C2 · British English · Slang

someone who steals a car to drive it fast for fun.

For teachers: a person who steals a motor vehicle specifically for the purpose of joyriding.

- The police caught the hotter after a short chase through the city streets.
- Local news reports focused on a group of hotters who had been targeting high-performance vehicles in the suburban estates.

Teaching tip: This is a very specific British slang term from the late 20th century; most modern speakers would simply use 'joyrider'.

### 3. to vibrate

verb · CEFR C2 · British English · Dialect · Archaic

to shake or make a rattling sound.

For teachers: to vibrate, rattle, or move with a shivering motion.

- The old windows began to hotter whenever a heavy truck drove past the house.
- The cart started to hotter as it rolled over the uneven cobblestones of the village square.

Usage: Intransitive verb used in specific Northern English regional speech.

Teaching tip: This sense is highly localized and largely obsolete; learners will likely only encounter it in regional literature.

## Examples

- The soup is much hotter than the salad.
- Summers in the valley are significantly hotter than those on the coast due to the lack of ocean breezes.
- As the climate continues to shift, urban areas are becoming hotter than rural surroundings because concrete and asphalt trap heat more effectively than natural vegetation.

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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.