Meaning
In Irish English, a hot press is a heated household cupboard used for storing and airing clothes, sheets, towels, and other linen, broadly equivalent to an airing cupboard.
How it is used
Cambridge explicitly labels hot press Irish English and defines it as a heated cupboard where washed clothes and sheets can finish drying, with airing cupboard as the synonym. Collins independently labels the household sense Irish, and Foras na Gaeilge records hot press with the airing-cupboard meaning.
Examples
- “The clean towels are in the hot press.”
- “Leave the sheets in the hot press to finish drying.”
- “There’s extra bedding in the hot press upstairs.”
Pronunciation
/ˈhɒt ˌpres/ · HOT press
Tone and register
Neutral and ordinary in Irish domestic speech. The phrase is a household noun, not a reference to the Irish magazine named Hot Press or to industrial machinery that applies heat and pressure.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can usually understand hot press as airing cupboard or a warm linen cupboard. The exact contents and heating arrangement vary by home, so the language entry does not imply that every hot press contains an immersion heater, water cylinder, or identical shelving layout.
Cultural context
Hot press is a high-value Irish-English term because it appears in accommodation, household instructions, family conversation, property descriptions, and everyday jokes while looking deceptively transparent to outsiders. The familiar words hot and press combine into a regionally specific domestic meaning.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.