To hot-wire a vehicle is to start the engine by joining the ignition wires (or touching them to the right contacts) instead of using a key. You will meet it in crime stories, films, and news about stolen cars. It is informal. Though actually, many newer cars will not start without the right key, so they are much harder to hot-wire than old ones; the word still appears, sometimes a little loosely, for any trick that starts a car without the proper key. Hot here is electrician-talk for “live” — carrying current — not “high temperature.”

搭線發動（車輛）；不用鑰匙、直接接電線把引擎發動。