Word.ws English Dictionary

three hots and a cot

three hots and a cot noun: prison.

Noun

three hots and a cot (uncountable)

  1. (slang) Prison.
    • “I've never been to jail before,” [Neal] said. “But there is a bright side: three hots and a cot at taxpayer expense.”1996 January 29, Unknown, “JUST FOLKS Homeless man who went on-line jailed on charge of stealing batteries”, in Sarasota Herald-Tribune
  2. (slang) Basic food and shelter.
    • It is, said the Rev. Eugene Boutilier, emergency services issues manager for the United Way, an important part of the mix of services that better-endowed cities are trying to provide to street people. "We need more than just three hots and a cot," he said.1987 February 28, Jay Mathews, “Homeless Shelter Officials Differ on Problem’s Scope, Nature”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2023
    • The voluntary prisoner in search of "three hots and a cot" is a persistent figure in American popular culture.2009 May 10, David Streitfeld, “The Recession Made Them Do It”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 Oct 2022

Examples of three hots and a cot in a sentence

  • Doe raises the necessary money for its residents' wages; the city provides the money for "three hots and a cot".2015 September 25, Sam Thielman, “New York City owes homeless aid organization $2.5m in unpaid funds”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
  • I'm grateful for the three hots and a cot for four weeks.2017, Nancy Price, Blonde Broads, College Station, T.X.: Virtualbookworm Publishing, →ISBN, page 174:

Origin of three hots and a cot

Rhyming expression from the idea of three hot meals daily and a bed to sleep on.

Questions about three hots and a cot

What does three hots and a cot mean?
Three hots and a cot means prison.
How do you use three hots and a cot in a sentence?
Doe raises the necessary money for its residents' wages; the city provides the money for "three hots and a cot".
What part of speech is three hots and a cot?
Three hots and a cot is a noun.

Words near three hots and a cot in the dictionary

  1. three green
  2. three guys in a garage
  3. three halfpence
  4. three halfpennies
  5. three halfpenny
  6. three hots and a cot
  7. Three Hummock Island
  8. three hundred
  9. Three Kingdoms
  10. Three Kings
  11. Three Kings Islands

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: three hots and a cot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-three hots and a cot.ogg.

Cite this entry: “three hots and a cot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/three_hots_and_a_cot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.