Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a playful or affectionate name for a foot, usu. a child’s foot; thus also toes; mostly in pl. [created from baby-talk].

1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms 360: tooties. A common term in nursery language for the feet. A corruption of footies, i.e. feet.
1849		Bell’s Life in Sydney 2 June 3/2: [of a dog] Her favourite’s tootsies were turned up with white.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 May 3/3: The celebrated tootsy-encaser Mr William Whipps.
1861		H.C. Pennell Puck on Pegasus 152: And the feet that stand like the solid rock, / Were ‘tootsies pootsies, bless ’em!’.
1878		G. Leybourne ‘The Gay Masquerade’ Comic Songs 8: With sweet ‘tootsy wootsys’ so sweetly arrayed.
1883		Bristol Magpie 15 Feb. 13/1: And on its two toots put these little boots .
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 17 May 23/2: She has a smile so sweet, / And such tootsy-wooty feet.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 May 6/2: The Colonel gave a dinner party [...] and his flunkeys laid down the inevitable strip of crimson carpet from doorway to roadway, that the warrior’s guests might keep their dainty tootsies free from the dirt of the streets.
1889		Punch 23 Feb. But his sable-trimmed pardner, a topper, with tootsies so tiny, dear boy, / Well I do not believe she arf minded, a spill is a thing gals enjoy.
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Nov. 10/1: [S]tumpy girls, bursting with voluptuousness from their eyelashes to their little tootsy-wootsies.
1891		Albert Chevalier ‘The Waxwork Show’ 🎵 King Canute by the sad sea-shore a-washin’ ’is ‘tootsie-wootsies!’.
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 31: A fancy girl of mine [...] found them [i.e. boots] rather tight and small for her tootsies.
1900		F. Remington letter Apr. in Splete (1988) 296: Have the splints off my tootsie but the thing is pulpy yet.
1901		Bateman & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] Folkestone for the Day 🎵 Went to Folkestone for a holiday, dabbled our tootsies in the sea.
1906		News & Obs. (Raleigh, NC) 28 Jan. 3/1: ‘Muzzer’s ootsy, tootsy wootsy is gwine to be a comfort to her’ ’.
1907		Gem 30 Mar. 7: Take especial care not to get your dear little tootsies wet.
1911		W.W. Jacobs ‘Fine Feathers’ in Monkey’s Paw (1962) 279: If she thinks that she can squeedge those little tootsy-wootsies of ’ers into them boo—.
1915		Weston & Darewski [perf. Mark Sheridan] ‘And the villain still pursued her’ 🎵 But oh! He grabbed her tootsies - could anything be ruder?
1917		Eve. World (NY) 7 Sept. 3/2: [headline] The Twenty-Third [Regiment] Has a Barber and a Tootsie Doctor.
1920		Marvel 19 June 10: Hurt your little tootsy-wootsies?
1922		Joyce Ulysses 403: Rugger. Scrum in. No touch kicking. Wow, my tootsies!
1923		W. Holtby Anderby Wold (1981) 162: Fancy calling feet ‘tootsies.’.
1929		W. Winchell On Broadway 10 Dec. [synd. col.] Lili Damita has her tootsies manicured daily.
1932		Truth (Sydney) 17 July 3/1: He made a hasty search round for a pair of daisy roots that would go on his tootsies.
1935		Cleo Brown ‘Breakin’ In a Pair of Shoes’ 🎵 Ouch, my tootsies!
1937		Cab Calloway ‘Peckin’’ 🎵 Well, come on folks, lend me your ears awhile, / And I’ll guarantee you, your little tootsie-wootsies will sure run wild.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 85: ‘Sore tootsies?’ I says.
1942		in W.C. Fields By Himself (1974) 244: Charles, how would you like me to give your little tootsies a pedicure?
1953		W. Eyster Far from the Customary Skies 56: Kisses get like beans, and hooking tootsies together winds up just plain cruddy.
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 45: They were the cutest, daintiest tootsies you’ve ever seen.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 86: He stuck his head out far enough to see the van without exposing his tootsies to the cold.
1982		Beano 26 June 5: Kiss her poor little tootsies better!
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 51: A secretary’s expressive tootsie slipping in and out of her shoe.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 330: Then there is the ‘duck’ who relishes the wet and performs at his top during a four-day tropical deluge but hates to have his tootsies jarred by a hard surface.
1999		Guardian G2 15 Oct. 11: Some custom-made Jimmy Choo’s to adorn your tootsies.
2006		Republic (Columbus, IN) 12 July 15/2: The minute the rains stops, flip-flops can be seen on sun-starved tootsies everywhere.
2011		Times Mag. 30 Apr. 4/3: Women [...] do need some help with the tootsie waxing.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] [T]he guy sat in the dirty snow, clutching his foot [...] I’d made one more successful assault [...] via cab-on-tootsie.

2. (also tootsie doll, tootsie-tits, tootsy-wootsy) an affectionate name, usu. for a woman or girl, occas. a male lover; occas. as n.

1873		Oxford Jrnl 23 Aug. 3/6: Dear Nursey-pursey [...] who [...] called me a tootsy-wootsy chap.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Apr. 4/4: His name is now Mr. Ashmead Burdett-Coutts Bartlett but probably the blushing bride calls him ‘tootsy-wootsey’.
1895		W. Stevens Letter 23 July (1966) 6: I can contract debts, I can be your own dearest tootsey wootsey .
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 88: She was one of the kind that’s anxious to lead you away from your own tootsie-wootsie, in the hope that you may have a bunch of sweet talk you can hand her on the quiet.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Harbinger’ in Voice of the City (1915) 57: Call me tootsum wootsums again, James.
c.1910		May Moore Duprez [perf.] ‘Coax Me’ 🎵 I’ll be your tootsie-wootsie / If you’ll coax me.
1911		T.A. Dorgan ‘Silk Hat Harry’s Divorce Suit’ in Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 21 Aug. 8: They were autographed too [...] from Your Tootsie.
1915		Cobb & Yellen [perf. Elizabeth Murray] ‘The Alabama Jubilee’ 🎵 Hear that flute, it’s a beaut, / And the tunes it’s tootin’, tootsie ain't they cute.
1924		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 2 July [synd. col.] Almost every week his endearing ‘ootsie tootsie’ letters are being read aloud to twelve pefect strangers.
1927		(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 10: You hold her hand and she holds yours, and that’s a very good sign / That she’s your tootsey-wootsey in the good old summer time.
1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 202: Coax me, come and coax me, I’ll be your tootsie wootsie.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 88: Hello, tootsie.
1933		Hecht & Fowler Great Magoo 100: Hello, tootsey.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 119: Saying he loves me, calling me his tootsie-wootsie.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 273: Thanks, Tootsie. What took you so long?
1947		G. Fairlie Bulldog Drummond Stands Fast 81: You really don’t expect us to leave such a tootsy-wootsy in the lurch.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 230: All right, tootsie boy [...] I’ll give you a deal.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 32: But should have been and was is two different matters, tootsie doll.
1959		A. Sinclair My Friend Judas (1963) 61: When you’ve got a new tootie, a new jacket, and a new cut on top.
1959		G. Marx letter 18 Dec. in Groucho Letters (1967) 202: A picture of some cute little tootsie garbed in less than nothing.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 108: Hey, tootsie?
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 51: Maybe that tootsie is a better looker than she is an actress.
1989		H. Harrison Bill [...] on the Planet of Robot Slaves (1991) 194: He’s saving the tootsie for the main event.
1992		S. King Gerald’s Game (1993) 203: It’s his spunk, tootsie.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 10: No carrot-cracking pics of Tootsie-tits playing with her honey hole.

3. a baby.

1873		A. Lloyd [perf. Arthur Lloyd] ‘The Baby Show’ 🎵 So Tootsy Wootsy’s going to go, / It’s going to see the Baby Show, / He’s sure to win the prize, I know.
1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 116: When Edgar was a Tootsey he received a frequent dusting with Extreme Violet Talcum Powder.

4. (Aus.) a lesbian.

1962		R. Hauser Homosexual Society Appendix 3 167: Tootsie, bitch with bitch.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xli 4/4: tootsies: Lesbians generally.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 49: Tootsie Lesbian.