Definition

1. Noun:
   • The intense heat at which a substance emits white light: The temperature at which a heated object, typically metal, glows with a bright white color.
   • A state of intense emotion or activity: A figurative meaning describing a period of extreme passion, excitement, anger, or productive effort.

Usage and Examples

• Literal Meaning (Temperature):

  • The blacksmith worked the iron until it reached a white heat.
  • Certain metals must be brought to a white heat to be properly forged.

• Figurative Meaning (Intense State):

  • The creative team was in a white heat of productivity to meet the deadline.
  • His argument was delivered with the white heat of moral outrage.

Advanced Usage

• "to bring something to a white heat": To intensify something to its peak level, either literally (temperature) or figuratively (emotion, activity).
  • The debate brought public interest in the issue to a white heat.

Variants and Related Words

• White-hot (adjective): Glowing white from heat; or, characterized by intense emotion or activity.
  • The metal was white-hot.
  • She felt a white-hot rage.

Synonyms

• Literal: Incandescence, glowing heat.
• Figurative: Frenzy, fever pitch, intensity, fervor, passion.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "At white heat": In a state of extreme intensity.
  • The novel was written at white heat in just three weeks.

Noun

1. the hotness of something heated until it turns white