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definitions

hotfoot

[hot-foo t]
noun, plural hot·foots.
  1. a practical joke in which a match, inserted surreptitiously between the sole and upper of the victim's shoe, is lighted and allowed to burn down.
verb (used without object)
  1. Informal. to go in great haste; walk or run hurriedly or rapidly (often followed by it): to hotfoot it to the bus stop.
adverb
  1. with great speed in going; in haste.

Origin of hotfoot

1250–1300; Middle English hot fot (adv.). See hot, foot
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hot-foot

Historical Examples of hot-foot

  • He then told us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • At this juncture comes an interruption; Tracey Tanner returns, hot-foot.

    The Fortune Hunter

    Louis Joseph Vance

  • Didn't you pitch into me hot-foot for lettin' him be alone with you?

    Cap'n Eri

    Joseph Crosby Lincoln

  • Now to get back to the Post Road, where the pace is not quite so hot-foot.

  • Yes, and we'll all hot-foot it to the burg of New York, and shoot-up the town!

    The Boy from the Ranch

    Frank V. Webster

British Dictionary definitions for hot-foot

hotfoot

adverb
  1. with all possible speed; quickly
verb
  1. to move quickly
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hot-foot

c.1300 (adv.) "hastily," from hot + foot (n.). As a verb, from 1896. As the name of a prank played with matches, by 1934.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper