I just looked up the word 'hottie,' without success, so I turn to this very bright group.

I know what "hottie" means, but I have lots of other questions....for example...it seems to apply equally well to men and women, right? Has this useful locution been around for a while, or is it as new as my awareness of it...say the last 5 or 10 years? Is it related to hotsie-totsie?

Thanks...gs

I looked this up in the OED, expecting to find nada and instead was rewarded with a good laugh...

hottie/hotty
colloq.
A hot-water bottle.
1947 H. Walsh Fourth Point of Star xx. 102, I am going to+rub my feet with meth., then get into bed with a hotty. 1956 D. M. Davin Sullen Bell vi. 40 Get a hotty for yourself. 1960 V. Anderson Daughters of Divinity vi. 51 And show her where to fill her hotty? 1967 R. Harris All my Enemies xiii. 117 You look rotten, Jenny. At least have a hottie to clutch.

I suppose there could be some nexus to grab onto [cough] here, but hasn't it been used mostly in rap for a 'hot woman'?

1960 V. Anderson Daughters of Divinity vi. 51 And show her where to fill her hotty? 1967 R. Harris All my Enemies xiii. 117 You look rotten, Jenny. At least have a hottie to clutch.
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"A hot water bottle" : Don't leave home without it -- especially if it's winter.
In earlier days, a hot brick wrapped in a flannel (thick cloth) was de rigeur to keep toes toasty!
And the thought occurs there are many meanings for flannel including my Grandmothers phrase when poo-pooing something "That's all flannel (nonsense)."

(This post edited after egregious error pointed out, most sensitively, in a Private Message.)
wow

"Hottie" is generally defined as "an attractive person." See, http://www.geocities.com/online_slang_dictionary/slang/h.html#top

I have heard it used to refer to both men and women, and, at least in my experience, it seems to have more frequent use within the gay community.

"Hotsy totsy" is defined in Webster's as "about as right as can be", and Webster's says it is said to have been coined by a US cartoonist. I can see a possible relationship between the meaning of hotsy-totsy and hottie, but I can also see a possible relationship between the slang "hot," meaning attractive, and "hottie." Maybe they are all related.

I'm with Sparteye, they are all rooted in "hot", and have been heard here interchangably. For men and women, about man or woman.

I have heard (and even used) this to mean "a good joke" or "a funny quip or rejoinder". It seems to be a contraction for "hot one". A frequent response to a joke or quip is, "That's a hot one!"

I've heard it used to describe volupuous members of either sex. It's a nice change from gender-specific words.

Well, according to the breakfast crew on Virgin Radio.... (not that I'm holding them up to be paragons of the English Language, as that's the last term I would apply to them!), a hottie is:

a hot flush/episode brought on by the placing of one's foot in one's mouth (bad euphemism in the UK at the moment, but you know what I mean...)

This then leads to the phrases 'Are you having a hottie?' or 'Looks like you're having a bit of a hottie there'.

As I say, this is not my personal definition, just hearsay - I'd have gone with the hot water bottle option!