foot it

English

Verb

foot it (third-person singular simple present foots it, present participle footing it, simple past and past participle footed it)

1. To walk.
   • 1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868, →OCLC, page 158:

     At length, receiving his quarterly allowance of fifteen guineas, instead of discharging his debts he walk'd out of town, hid his gown in a furze bush, and footed it to London, […]

2. To dance.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 24:

     `'Tis melancholy work facing and footing it to one of your own sort, and no clasping and colling at all.'

3. To drive quickly, with the accelerator down.
   • 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54:

     The Mail would be footing it at fifty—maybe more.