Etymology

first footing

Today it means: The practice, during Hogmanay, of visiting friends and family, especially to be the first person to cross a home's threshold after midnight on New Year's Eve bearing a small gift. Full definition →

Scots tae first-fit
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The story

  1. Scots · derived fromtae first-fit“to be the first to visit at the new year”
  2. English todayfirst footing

From Scots tae first-fit (“to be the first to visit at the new year”, literally “to first-foot”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.