What does hotting mean?
Hotting is the heating of metal, traditionally in a furnace, until it becomes soft or workable. The term is chiefly found in older accounts of forging, welding, and other metalworking processes, where controlled heat was essential for making iron malleable. It may also occur as a rare present-participle form of the verb 'hot,' meaning to heat or make something hot. Although the individual words 'hot,' 'heating,' and 'reheating' are familiar in modern English, 'hotting' as a standalone noun is uncommon and usually has a technical or historical tone. Its usefulness lies in identifying a specific stage or process within traditional metalworking, rather than heating in general.
The process of heating metal, especially in a furnace, so that it becomes soft enough to be forged, welded, or otherwise worked.
"The smith regulated the furnace throughout the hotting of the iron."
Chiefly a technical or historical term; the process is more usually called heating or reheating in modern usage.
Heating or making something hot, especially metal in preparation for working it.
"The workshop was hotting several bars of iron before the morning shift."
This is a rare inflected form of the verb 'hot' and is much less common than 'heating.'
The plural is rare; the process is usually treated as an uncountable noun.
"The record lists the hottings of the metal at different stages of the process."
Hotting is the old craft of making rigid metal pliable enough for a smith to shape by hand.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does hotting come from?
The word is formed from 'hot' and the suffix '-ing', directly expressing the action of heating. 'Hot' comes from Old English 'hāt', inherited through Proto-Germanic from a wider Indo-European root associated with heat or a high temperature. Its specialized noun use developed in the vocabulary of metalworking.
Related word forms
How hotting is actually used
As a standalone noun, 'hotting' is uncommon and chiefly belongs to older or technical descriptions of metalworking. As a verb form, it is now rare and normally appears in specialized contexts.