hot bed: Meaning and Definition of

hot' bed"

1. an area having rails or rolls on which rolled pieces are laid to cool.

hot•bed

1. a bottomless, boxlike, usually glass-covered structure and the bed of earth it covers, heated typically by fermenting manure or electrical cables, for growing plants out of season.
2. a place or environment favoring rapid growth or spread, esp. of something disliked or unwanted: a hotbed of disease.
3. a bed shared by two or more persons in shifts, each sleeping in it for or at a designated time and then vacating it for the next occupant.

1. to share a bed in shifts, so that it is always occupied.