Definition of "hotshot"

hotshot

/ˈhɒtˌʃɒt/

adjective
comparative more hotshot, superlative most hotshot
1. (informal) Highly skilled.
2. (informal) Displaying talent.
noun
plural hotshots
1. (informal) Someone with exceptional skills in a certain field.
2. A type of firefighter highly skilled in wildfire firefighting without external support, using basic tools that are backpacked in and manhandled about.
3. (US, rail transport) A fast freight train.
  Quotations
  Indeed, development proceeded so rapidly thereafter that Mopac, for instance, was rebuilding a series of 10-year-old Woodard 2-8-4's into 4-8-4's by 1940 - not because they couldn't steam but because their 63-inch drivers couldn't roll the hotshots fast enough.
  1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co.
4. (slang) A dose of recreational drugs deliberately laced with poison.
  Quotations
  I sniffed glue, transmission fluid, gasoline, whatever drug anybody gave me, I took. […] [Y]ears ago, I was in a drug rehabilitation program and found out that my brother was killed after somebody gave him a hotshot, drugs laced with poison.
  1997, Andi Rierden, The Farm: Life inside a women's prison, page 120
verb
third-person singular simple present hotshots, present participle hotshotting, simple past and past participle hotshotted
1. (transitive, slang) To give (somebody) a dose of recreational drugs deliberately laced with poison.