Meaning Freshly printed. Origin This term is applied especially to newspapers. Newsprint presses generate heat when printing, by a process called, for obvious reasons, 'hot metal printing'. Although the term only really makes complete sense for things like newspapers which are pressed and hot, it is by extension now also used to refer to anything that is fresh and newly made. Hot off (or from) the press (or presses) didn't originate as a phrase until the middle of the 20th century. For example...