Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) ostentatious.

1913		Sport (Adelaide) 24 May 12/2: They Say [...] That If Lou D. was to leave off wearing patent leather boots, hot shot socks, and corsets, and give his funny bow tie away, he might manage to catch a girl .
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles : ‘You can’t be so visible. That hotshot shit’s not for you’.

2. (US) conceited, self-opinionated .

1921		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 30 Jan. 62/4: He told me what you said. That was hot shot, Ethel — hot shot. You fired from the hip and let him have it.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 27: Got a guy who killed a hot-shot goon named Boots Brenner.
1960		Mad mag. July 19: [heading] Hot Shot Politicians [...] John Ward Heeler.
1972		Nova Apr. 97: It really burns me up to listen to hotshot crap-car salesmen [...] bitching about a country that’s been stuffing goodies into their mouths since they were born.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 232: I think we’re better off sticking with these hotshot surgeons.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 101: She was well used to the vitriol spat at her by stars and stars’ managers and hotshot record producers.

3. (US) first-rate [? backed up by hot-shot, a truck-freighting term from c. 1920: rapid; offering through or non-stop service].

1941		Topeka Capital 16 Jan. 14: Griggs-White’s ‘Hot Shot’ Dollar Day Bargains.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 203: McCarthy, hot-shot oil speculator, is a product of gushers of publicity.
1959		Mad mag. Mar. 47: Albrecht Von Neuman was only 14 when he painted [...] ‘Self-Portrait of a Hot Shot Artist’.
1964		H.S. Thompson letter 25 June in Proud Highway (1997) 459: They come for the glamorous job, the hotshot husband.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 216: I’ll make a hotshot private eye outa yuh yet.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 267: It might be to some hotshot gangbusters from the big city.
1989		R.G. Barratt ‘Tall Poppies Deserve Short Shrift’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] He’s supposed to be a hot-shot wheeler-dealer.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 16: Mike and I still clung loosely to our private visions of becoming hotshot radio personalities.
1999		Guardian G2 13 Sept. 3: Malton was the place to be for hotshot aircraft designers fleeing Britain’s doomed aviation industry.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 327: He’s a hotshot storm trooper for the Park Service.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] I’m sure you’ve made up for lost time since becoming a hot-shot detective.
2011		IOL News (Western Cape) 14 May 🌐 Barker, still trying to get rid of Cherel, tries to suss out if the hot shot lawyer can be bought.
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] He points his finger. ‘Martin Scarsden. Hotshot reporter’.
2022		A. Parks May God Forgive 42: Some hotshot lawyer.