Definition

1. Adverb:
   • Without delay; speedily: "hotfoot" describes moving or acting with great haste and urgency.
2. Noun:
   • A practical joke: Specifically, a prank involving inserting a match between the sole and upper of a person's shoe and lighting it.
3. Verb:
   • To move or go quickly; to hurry: To travel somewhere with speed and urgency.

Usage Examples

• Adverb:
  • The messenger was sent hotfoot to the capital with the urgent news.
  • They drove hotfoot to the airport, hoping to catch the last flight.
• Noun:
  • He pulled a classic hotfoot on his unsuspecting coworker.
  • The hotfoot is a silly but harmless prank common in some offices.
• Verb:
  • We need to hotfoot it to the store before it closes.
  • She hotfooted out of the room when she heard the alarm.

Advanced Usage

• "to hotfoot it (somewhere)": This is the most common verb form, always used with "it" to mean to hurry or rush to a specific place.
  • We'd better hotfoot it home; a storm is coming.

Variants and Related Words

• Hotfooted (adj): Having moved or acted with haste. (Less common)
  • Their hotfooted departure left everyone confused.

Synonyms

• Adverb: Hastily, speedily, posthaste, hurriedly.
• Verb: Rush, dash, hurry, race, sprint.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Hotfoot it: To go somewhere very quickly.
  • When the meeting ended, he hotfooted it to the parking lot.

Related Idioms

• To be in a hotfoot hurry: To be in an extreme rush. (This is a less common, descriptive phrase based on the word's meaning).
  • She was in a hotfoot hurry to finish the project.

Adverb

1. without delay; speedily
   • sent ambassadors hotfoot to the Turks- Francis Hackett
   • drove hotfoot for Boston

Noun

1. a practical joke that involves inserting a match surreptitiously between the sole and upper of the victim's shoe and then lighting it

Verb

1. move fast
   • He rushed down the hall to receive his guests
   • The cars raced down the street