Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a dangerous or difficult situation.

1908		‘Old Sleuth’ Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 93: ‘And you have not been detected?’ ‘Oh, yes, I was fallen on several times, but I managed to creep out of a hot spot each time.’.
1938		D. Runyon ‘A Very Honorable Guy’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 423: I am in a very hot spot one way and another.
1946		G. Gibson Enemy Coast Ahead (1955) 67: Oslo was a pretty hot spot all right.
1953		Dundee Courier 19 Oct. 5/2: [picture caption of cat up a tree] Puss in a hot spot.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 216: I was put on to some very profitable work, just the stuff for the likes of me, because it takes me off the island, to the hot spots of the mainland.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 70: I’ve been in a few hot spots around the world.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 26: Washington Heights, which the police call a ‘hot spot,’ is a battleground in the war on drugs.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 29: A litany of hotspots missed by months or years.
2010		Big Issue (SA) 5-26 Feb. 11/1: Tourists will be issued with a Danger Zone Zone Map [...] [it] will highlight hijacking hotspots.

2. (US Und.) an area where there is likely to be a good deal of police presence or similar security.

1937

(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 123: The thieves who grift short con around hot spots such as railway stations, suffer more pickups than any other type of con men.

3. (US) some form of judicial punishment, e.g. a fine or sentence.

1928

Oakland Tribune (CA) 20 Dec. 5/3: It was side-by-side until this morning, when they line up before the gavel and get the hot-spot.

4. (US) a popular, fashionable nightclub, bar; thus v. hot-spot, to go night-clubbing.

1931		D. Runyon ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 132: At five o’clock in the morning [...] it is sometimes a very hot spot indeed.
1935		Ted Yates This Is New York 31 May [synd.col.] It will be nice to take the boys Harlem ‘hot-spotting’.
1938		Lil Hardin Armstrong ‘Harlem on Saturday Night’ 🎵 Hot spots are never cold / Piccolos are thumpin’! / No matter where you go, / Every joint is jumpin’!
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 149: We got him drunk in a black-and-tan hot spot.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 147: The gang at a hot spot like the Junior Ganymede don’t break up a party at the end of lunch.
1964		P. Highsmith Two Faces of January (1988) 104: I suppose this is the town hotspot.
1971		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 13: Right in the middle of a glug of champagne at some jet-set hot spot the ineluctable truth hits him.
1985		K. Vacha Quiet Fire 159: We moved to L.A. and were [...] going to all the glory holes and all the gay hot spots.
1998		Source Oct. 43: The premier hot spot for food and entertainment.
2000		Guardian G2 11 Jan. 3: This particular personal appearance was at Notting Hill’s little known hotspot.

5. (Aus.) hell.

2012

(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] ‘But having necked himself, wouldn’t this bloke be heading for the hot spot?’.

6. see hot seat n. (1)