hotfoot

[ hot-foot ]
See synonyms for hotfoot on Thesaurus.com
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

1
1250–1300; Middle English hot fot (adv.). See hot, foot

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hotfoot in a sentence

  • He had gone to the Syndic's house at nine, and finding himself tricked a second time had returned hot-foot to the Corraterie.

    The Long Night | Stanley Weyman
  • Now, Little Thunder, let's get out of this, for once their old man finds out he will be hot foot on our trail.

    Corporal Cameron | Ralph Connor
  • He heard me through, then fell to cursing me afresh, and would be sending an aide-de-camp hot-foot for Falconnet.

    The Master of Appleby | Francis Lynde
  • I climbed the rocky way hot-foot, and sped down through the furze and golden-rod to the house.

    Carette of Sark | John Oxenham
  • He knew her in the distance for Pharlina Pike, and realized that she had come hot-foot across lots.

British Dictionary definitions for hotfoot

hotfoot

/ (ˈhɒtˌfʊt) /


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