Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) a detective.

1914		Anderson Daily Intelligencer (SC) 7 June 11/1: [cartoon caption] Pussyfoot Sam and the Great Powell Diamond Mystery.
1922		N.Z. Truth 29 Apr. 1/7: He got the name ‘Pussyfoot’ while chasing outlaws in the United States.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 40: pussyfooter – a sleuth.
1945		F.H. Hubbard Railroad Avenue 356: Pussyfooter – Railroad policeman.

2. a coward, a weakling; someone sly or underhand; a general derog. term of address.

1916		L. Pound ‘Word-List From Nebraska’ in DN IV:iv 279: pussy-foot [...] Also n. ‘She’s a regular pussy-foot.’.
1916		Day Book (Chicago) 15 Sept. 5/1: Oh, you pussyfooter!
1919		C. Sandburg letter 30 Jan. in Mitgang (1968) 150: He employs directly the words, ‘criminal’ and ‘pussyfoot’ and ‘bolshevik’ to characterize Woodrow Wilson.
1920		S. Lewis Main Street (1921) 46: He had been called many things – loan-shark, skinflint, tightwad, pussyfoot – but he had never before been called a flirt.
1927		Sat. Eve. Post 24 Dec. 9/1: A good politician is a natural-born pussy-footer [DA].
1935		R. Chandler Spanish Blood (1946) 41: Hold it, pussyfoot.
1946		S.H. Holbrook Lost Men of America 160: The appeasers and pussyfooters of 1850 also provided that any territories that might come into the Union later could do so with or without slavery [DA].
1952		M.F. Caulfield Black City 54: All those sanctimonious, bible-thumping, hymn-singing rump-faced pussyfoots.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 127: Ever heard the one about the pussyfoot caught in the draft?
1977		R. Coover Public Burning (1979) 597: A boxcar of pussyfooters.

3. a teetotaller.

1907		Viniter Dly Chieftain (OK) 2 Nov. 1/2: ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson returns Monday to wreak vengeance upon those who have swilled booze [...] during his absence.
1912		Day Book (Chicago) 18 Sept. 10/1: Pussyfoot Johnson’s chief business in life is pussyfooting and hating liquor.
1919		Taunton Courier 19 Nov. 1/6: If you think we are going to allow any crank of a Yank to put us on the water tank, Mr Pussyfoot, miaow-wow!
1922		Broadway Brevities Aug. 8/1: This state of affairs [i.e. Prohibition] may suit the United States. Mr. Pussyfoot will, with difficulty, persuade us to pay his country the compliment of imitation.
1925		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 20 Oct. 8/3: Pussyfoot — Glasgow Corporation yesterday decided by 40 votes against 36 that no [...] alcoholic liquors be provided at any functions held under the auspices of the Corporation.
1939		Derby Dly Teleg. 12 Aug. 5/3: No ‘Pussyfoot’ [...] A man was found lying on the pavement totally drunk on the second night of prohibition in Bombay.