hotcha

comparative more hotcha · superlative most hotcha · alternative hot-cha

1. USdatedslangFlashy, vivacious, attractive, desirable.First known use 20th c.

   ‘It seems he run Sternwood's hotcha daughter, the young one, off to Yuma.’

   1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 53

2. USdatedslangExciting, lively.First known use 20th c.

   ‘Here come the hotcha gals from Havana.’

   1933, Havana Widows (motion picture press book), Warner Bros. publicity dept., New York, page 11

   2 more examples

   I've got a job down at the hotcha night club as a featured entertainer.

   1935, The Collegiate, Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School, Sarnia, Ontario, May 1935, page 143

   ‘It becomes a hotcha curb-service by girls with bare thighs.’

   1942, Bulletin of The American Association of University Professors, October 1942, page 542

3. Of or relating to a Harlem style of hot rhythm music, especially jazz.First known use 1930s

   The band […] gives her [Blanche Calloway] excellent support, blaring out the hotcha special arrangements in typical Harlem style.

   The Billboard, March 9 1935, p. 16

   2 more examples

   The passing of Harlem as a hotcha after-dark entertainment center, to a great extent, coupled with the drift towards Broadway of the Harlem spots.

   1935 May 4, The Billboard, page 13

   Listen, pal, you gotta swing and grab your gal / and do that thing. / Learn that jig-time dancing / called hotcha-razz-ma-tazz […] / Swing your partners one and all / to hotcha razz-ma-tazz.

   Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, song Hotcha Razz-Ma-Tazz (Andy Razaf, Will Hudson, Irving Mills), recorded January 1934 (Victor 24690)

plural hotchas · alternative hot-cha

1. A musical composition in the hotcha style.

   NBC Music Library […] the files have to be stocked with every kind of score that exists, including […] Harlem hotchas.

   1935 July, NBC Reception Staff Review, National Broadcasting Company, New York, page 4

   2 more examples

   Jazz - Hotcha v. Swing [...] I seemed to notice a tendency, towards the end of 1936, for [...] 'Hotcha' music to be replaced by 'Swing' music.

   1937, King-Hall Survey 1936, by Stephen King-Hall, Newnes, London, page 93

   The dining and dancing establishments have been springing up [...] each adding its bit to the neon glow and the hotcha chorus [...] More hotcha per square inch than any other joint in town.

   1933 November, The Lehigh Burr (vol. 51 no.2), Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa., page 12

2. USdatedslangAn attractive young woman.

alternative hot-cha

1. USdatedslangAn exclamation of excitement, delight or high approval.First known use 20th c.

   Hotcha! Here comes a serving of beer.

   La Mezcla, Armijo High School, Fairfield, Calif., June 1933, p. 17

   1 more example

   Did you ever see her in a bathing suit? Hotcha!

   John O'Hara, Appointment in Samarra, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1935, p. 21