Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. sexual desire; usu. in phr. have the hots for, to desire sexually.

1942		Savitar [University of Missouri Yearbook] 233: One of the most vivid bits of campus slang, or lingo, to emanate from any campus in a long while is the Missouri expression, ‘the hots,’ which is the ‘college’ way of saying somebody’s in love with or inclined in that direction toward another person. Thus we get ‘He’s really got the hots for her’ or ‘She’s got the deep endurin’ hots for him,’ and you just aren’t one of the fellas if you can’t sling this bit of English around with agility.
1947		cited in Wentworth & Flexner DAS (1975) 274/1: I’d never get the deep undying hots for that rah rah collitch [boy].
1954		J. Sanders Freak Show 90: ‘Fidler, I think you’ve got the hots for that freak’.
1961		F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 4: What I do believe is that he’s got the hots for me.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 72: What gives with this sheilah? She must have the flamin’ hots for me.
1963		G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 138: This very old executive [...] made her his private secretary because he had the Hots for her.
1965		K. Marlowe Mr Madam (1967) 186: Man, have I got the hots.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 28: The old man had the hots for some barmaid.
1983		C. Heath A-Team 2 (1984) 37: Collins is into anything that wears a skirt. A case of perpetual hots.
1986		J. Sullivan ‘The Miracle of Peckham’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] She’s got the right hots for yours truly.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 60: I used only to get the hots for blokes who attracted me physically.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 11: Every cunt under the sun kens that she’s goat the hots fir ye. [Ibid.] 78: Begbie’s gaun on aboot Julie Mathieson, whae he used tae huv the hoats fir.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 141: ‘The man’s still got some strong feelings for me.’ ‘The hots is what we call it.’.
1999		Guardian Guide 14–20 Aug. 95: The popular blonde bimbo he’s got the hots for.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 106: That Christine had brought on a case of the passing hots.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 3: He’s always had the big-time hots for her.
2008		J. Lansdale Leather Maiden 68: ‘Maybe I just had the hots for Caroline and that’s the long and short of it’.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 270: She developed the roaring hots for this Austrian guy.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘The big kids said he had the hots for Byron’.

2. in fig. use, any form of excitement or enthusiasm.

1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 58: Where’s this scam bank your friend’s got the hots for?
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 84: Spook had the hots for a bike for months.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 187: What the hell does she need with some half-assed lover who’s got the hots for tile bathrooms.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 46: She writes this fuckin stupid policy document [...] and everybody gets the fuckin hots.
1999		Observer Screen 25 July 15: Have the hots for Mary Quant’s mini-skirt.