Definition of "white heat" []

• The temperature or physical condition of a white-hot substance. (noun)
• Intense emotion or excitement: working at white heat to make the deadline. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And next day Martin Eden cast hack-work aside, and at white heat hammered out an essay to which he gave the title, "The Philosophy of Illusion.""
• "Cara bent her head and riffled through the crumbly yellowed pages in a white heat of embarrassment."
• "The work was undoubtedly written at a white heat of inspiration, for at the time MacDowell was not only grieved over the death of his old master and friend, Joachim Raff, but was also harrassed by the drudgery and struggle of his own existence."