ˈhot-shot
Also hot shot, hotshot.
[See shot n.]
1. † a. One who shoots (with a fire-arm) ‘hotly’ or eagerly; a reckless or hot-headed fellow. Obs.
| 1604 Middleton Father Hubburd's T. Wks. (Bullen) VIII. 90 To the wars I betook me, ranked myself amongst desperate hot shots. 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. v. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, He railes against women like a whot-shot. c 1626 Dick of Devon. i. iii. Ibid. II, A company of hott shotts are abroad. 1665 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 110 Straight to the Wharf repairs the Hot-shot. |
b. An important or exceptionally capable person. Also attrib. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
| 1933 Amer. Speech Oct. 35/2 Hot shot, a champion, a leading contender, an excellent fighter. 1943 ‘B. Halliday’ Murder wears a Mummer's Mask xviii. 205 All the important critics were there—the hot shots from the East whose wire stories to their papers could make or break an actress. 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye iii. 23 He was telling us all about what a swell guy he was, what a hot-shot and all. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xiv. 234 The only relaxation I would have would be going out with the local hot-shots. 1961 J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) xxii. 230 How about getting us a hotel-room if you're such a hotshot? 1973 J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 103 These hot-shot scientists. They love the limelight. |
† 2. (Also hot-shoot.) See quots. Obs.
| 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 58 They use also for Fewel a sort of round Balls made of Clay mixed with a certain proportion of coal..which they call Hotshots. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Hot-Shoots, or Hovilses, a sort of factitious or compound fuel, made of a third part of any coal..mixed with two thirds of loam. |
3. U.S. slang. (See quots.)
| 1925 Writer's Monthly May 486/2 Hot shot, a fast freight. 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 207 Hot shot, a fast freight or passenger train. |
4. U.S. slang. (See quots.)
| 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) 157 Hot Shot... Poison, usually strychnine, passed to an addict as junk. The peddler sometimes slips a hot shot to an addict because the addict is giving information to the law. 1971 E. E. Landy Underground Dict. 106 Hot shot,..1. Injection of poison that user believes to be good drugs, a method of getting rid of police informers. 2. Injection of a drug that is of higher potency than the addict is accustomed to. |
5. Used attrib. to designate a wind tunnel in which an arc discharge in a pressurized chamber is used to produce a hypersonic pulse of gas in an evacuated test chamber, the two chambers being separated initially by a diaphragm that is ruptured by the discharge.
| 1959 Engineering 13 Feb. 219/2 A wind tunnel, which will test models at the speed of satellite rockets, is expected to be in use in the United States toward the end of this year... Known as a ‘hotshot’ tunnel, it makes use of a powerful electric arc to pressurise the air. 1971 Sci. Amer. Sept. 14/2 The heated gas in the arc chamber is the working gas of a hotshot tunnel with a working section of 2·5 meters and a Mach number of about 20. |
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Add: [1.] c. Sport. One exceptionally skilled at shooting (for goal, etc.), esp. in basketball; a first-rate shot. colloq. (chiefly U.S.).
| 1947 Basketball Mag. Feb. 17/1 When..[Stanford's head coach] decides to show one of his boys ‘how it is done’ either in a shooting contest or in a scrimmage..we've seen more than one of his ‘hot shots’ walk away from such an exhibition. 1974 Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 13 Oct. c13/4 Center Jim Chones and rookie hotshot Campy Russell should make their presences known in early December. 1987 Guardian Weekly 22 Mar. 20/1 Fast Eddie, the pool-room hotshot..in..The Hustler. |