Thread: hotfoot

hotfoot
adverbINFORMAL
very quickly and without delay, in a big hurry :
He came back hotfoot when he heard her voice again.


hotfoot it
verbINFORMAL
hotfoot it to run or walk somewhere as quickly as possible:
If you hotfoot it somewhere, you go there quickly:
She hotfooted it to visit her mother that afternoon.


As far as I know, hotfoot is not used as a noun.

Hola Maramaras and Frank!!

Hotfoot is more slang than anything else. It means "to hurry" but it cannot be conjugated as a normal verb. I would not use it unless I was very sure of how to phrase it.

can we say? He hotfoot came back when he heard her voice again.

or

He came back hotfoot when he heard her voice again.



No, if you use it you must say he hotfooted it back or he came hotfooting it back when he heard her voice.

You can say "let's hotfoot it, or I'm going to hotfoot it over to Maria's house. You can also say as a command: "Hotfoot it over to the store and buy some milk!".

Notice that hotfoot is always followed by an "it".

Hotfoot is also a noun. It refers to the old practical joke of sticking a match between the sole and upper of a person's shoe and lighting the match. When it burned down it gave the person a "hotfoot". It was used in old slapstick style comedy movies many years ago.

Saludos amigos!

Originally Posted by vicente

Hola Maramaras and Frank!!
can we say? He hotfoot came back when he heard her voice again.
or
He came back hotfoot when he heard her voice again.
No, if you use it you must say he hotfooted it back or he came hotfooting it back when he heard her voice.
Notice that hotfoot is always followed by an "it".

Saludos amigos!

Vicente,
you say "hotfoot" doesn't exist as an adverb, but it does.
According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary :

Definition :

hotfoot
adverb INFORMAL
very quickly and without delay:
She'd come hotfoot from the palace with the latest news.



In which case, "hotfoot" is NOT followed by it.

I would, as you advise, never use it myself.
And I haven't heard it much either.

Cheerio !
Frank.

Hola Frank:

OK, I shouldn't have made a flat statement like that. Sorry. I should have known that you did your research! So if you've found it in a dictionary somewhere I will not argue with that. BUT...in 60+ years I have never heard hotfoot used without an "it" so let me re-phrase my statement. Even if it is legal, you SHOULD not use it asi in the United States because I think if you use it as an adverb, as in the examples, it will sound ODD AT BEST; however, maybe they use it like that in other parts of the world.

I have to remember to always say that I am speaking as a native U.S. speaker and I am not an expert on English in the rest of the world.

Since you and Exx and I all agree that it is seldomly used I think maramaras should be careful in incorporating this into her English vocabulary for the moment.

_____________________________________

Buenos días Exx!...or should I say buenas tardes ya!

To leave hastily: bolt, get out, run. Informal clear out, get, skedaddle. Slang hightail, scram, vamoose. Idioms: beat it, hightail it, hotfoot it, make tracks. See approach/retreat.

We could have fun adding some words to this list like, zip (zip on over there!), move it!, haul ass (let's haul ass outta here!!), etc.

hey, hotfoot it!!

Would mean: hey, come on, get going, hurry up!!

Correct!

And not: hey, get out of here! Get lost!!

Yes, it would mean that too, Exx! Depends on the voice. Like "hotfoot it!!" alone might mean "hurry" but "hotfoot it outta here!"...would be unmistakable in meaning! Especially if you added "or else!"

There may be some confusion with the fact that a "hot foot", used as two words, is a horse trainer's term for a race horse who is favoring a hoof but is not lame. The leg feels hot, ergo the term.

Horses have veins very close to the surface in their lower legs which is why they will stand in a stream or pool of water after walking or running a long way. This is where we got the phrase "cool your heels" from.

Just a thought.

Joel

Hola maramaras:

In answer to your question about these sentences:

>the hotshot hotfoot that let the success from 2006 go to his head.

Hotshot has various meanings.

A "hotshot" in this instance, is a person who has a great deal of self-assurance. Hotfoot in this instance could mean a person who was an athlete, maybe a runner, for example who won in 2006 and it "went to his head", i.e., made him over-confident.

>A fire services study highlighting areas of concern for Hempfield Township and its 12 volunteer fire departments had all the effect of a mediocre hotfoot.

This is a play on words. Fire services/hotfoot. Hotfoot in this instance refers to the hotfoot practical joke. Apparently a study found problems with the fire departments and they were ordered to rectify the problems quickly; or sent "hopping", caused to figuratively jump up and down as if they had been given a hotfoot, as in the joke.

Gee, this is a little hard to explain even in English. Maybe one of our Spanish natives can explain it in Spanish!?

Good stuff Joel!! I never knew that about horses!

I am very familiar with "cool your heels" but never knew its origen.