Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) speedy action, a quick movement or journey; as phr. do a hot foot, on the hot foot [hot foot v.].

1869		Congressional Globe 15 Jan. 389/3: The honorable Senator [...] admonished us of the importance of hot-foot in this business [DA].
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 33: As soon as he gets his change he done a hot- foot fer de door.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 36: foot, n. In phrase ‘to do a hot foot,’ to absent one’s self from recitation.
1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 9: Just then in breezes the Wise Cracker on the hot foot.
1908		‘Hugh McHugh’ Go To It 9: I’m doing the hot foot over the State for the Insurance Company.
1908		R.A. Bennet Into the Primitive 304: That’ll bring the bluffer out on the hot-foot.
1915		H.L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap (1917) 27: We’d better report to her before she does a hot-foot over here.
1929		C. Coe Hooch! 241: Come down here to Zuroto’s on the hot foot.
1959		L. Hasley ‘My Heart’s a Violin’ in Play it Cool, Sister 212: Men, on the whole, need someone to give them a hot-foot; someone to get them started.

2. in attrib. use of sense 1.

1916

Day Book (Chicago) 6 Dec. 27/2: How long would they hesitate before making a hot-foot trip to the collector’s office and paying up their just taxes?

3. (US) the act of beating the soles of someone’s feet or shoes, e.g. of a rough sleeper by a police officer.

1894		Ade Stories of the Street and of the Town (1941) 97: He was getting the ‘hotfoot.’ A heavy policeman was pounding the sole of his shoe.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 32: I’d become learned in certain mysteries, among others, the ‘hot foot’. [...] Given a man, unconscious by virtue or rather vice of rum, and you can restore him to a liveliest habit, both of tongue and locomotion [...] by smartly beating the soles of his feet.
1925		G.H. Mullin Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 54: The bull [...] gave me the hot-foot as a tingling eye-opener.
1929		W. Winchell On Broadway 27 July [synd. col.] The ‘hot foot’ is Broadway’s favorite gag. While someone engages you in gab, another creeps on all fours under your table, places half a paper match in the sole of your boot and then ignites it with a cigarette.
1940		J. Archibald ‘Short Order Crook’ in Ten Detective Aces Apr. 🌐 ‘You better talk or you will glit blig hotfloot!’ Snooty says to the China boy.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 100: give a hot foot To hit on the soles a park sleeper.

4. (US) a malicious trick played on an unsuspecting sleeper. Matches are thrust end-first into the gap between the upper and sole of the shoe (or between naked toes if vulnerable); the matches are lit, and the shoe ‘catches fire’ or the flesh is painfully singed.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Sense of Humor’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 268: The way you give a hot foot is to sneak up behind some guy [...] and stick a paper match in his shoe between the sole and the upper along about where his little toe ought to be, and then light a match.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 50: He had piled papers, scratch sheets and empty cigarette packets below the tilted chair [...] ‘I’m givin’ Shooie a hotfoots.’.
1953		Mad mag. Oct.–Nov. 17: [...] or the hot foot I gave him on his wooden leg.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 190: I gave him a hot-foot.
1965		D. Pearce Cool Hand Luke (1967) 184: Don’t you go lightin’ no matches now. You’ll give us a hot foot that won’t wait.
1970		J. Bouton Ball Four 125: I once gave Phil my famous atomic bomb hot-foot, which consists or four match heads stuck inside another match. It was such a lovely hot-foot his shoelaces caught fire.
1983		J. Ciardi A Second Browser’s Dict. 143: Hotfoot. A moronic practical joke.

5. (US) in fig. use, an unpleasant surprise.

1947		S.J. Perelman Westward Ha! 32: Midge rose from her chair as if someone had given her a hotfoot.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 302: ‘Did you say “nonetheless” ?’ ‘Why, yes I did, Mr Marlowe. Is that incorrect ?’ ‘No, but don’t say it in front of a millionaire. He might think you were giving him the hotfoot.’.
1977		S. Stallone Paradise Alley (1978) 174: You could [...] give him a hot-foot, stick gum in his hair, or fart against his leg; Victor would always take it with smile.