hot-wiring

Verb

hot-wire (third-person singular simple present hot-wires, present participle hot-wiring, simple past and past participle hot-wired)

1. (informal, transitive) To wire, especially to a power supply, using a makeshift electrical connection.
   • I bypassed the switch and hot-wired the circuit board to the power supply.
2. (informal, transitive) In particular, to start (an automobile engine) by bypassing the ignition key wiring, especially in order to steal the vehicle.
   • Never broke into a car, never hotwired a car. Never broke into a truck. 'I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof, nor through inaction let the personal contents thereof come to harm' It's what I call the Repo Code, kid!1984, Alex Cox, Repo Man, spoken by Bud (Harry Dean Stanton)