hotfoot

American  

[hot-foot] / ˈhɒtˌfʊt /

noun

plural

hotfoots

1. a practical joke in which a match, inserted surreptitiously between the sole and upper of the victim's shoe, is lighted and allowed to burn down.

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verb (used without object)

1. Informal. to go in great haste; walk or run hurriedly or rapidly (often followed byit ).

   to hotfoot it to the bus stop.

adverb

1. with great speed in going; in haste.

hotfoot British  

/ ˈhɒtˌfʊt /

adverb

1. with all possible speed; quickly

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verb

1. to move quickly

Etymology

Origin of hotfoot

1250–1300; Middle English hot fot (adv.). See hot, foot

Example Sentences

I decided to take time off work the very next day and hotfoot it to Tel Aviv, to get ahead of any competitors.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 7, 2019

One measly hotfoot, and you are out on your butt.

From Washington Post • Jan. 23, 2015

Carr got up to talk to more voters, to pay for everything they’d ordered, and then to hotfoot it to a plane that would take him around the state.

From Slate • Aug. 8, 2014

And so they hotfoot it to Paris, leaving their new spouses behind in bewildered ignorance, determined to live sensibly together.

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2011

But the only way he could change that would be to tell Mr. Kravitz that he was the one who had given him the hotfoot.

From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville