What does the term "hot dog lawyer" mean? I've heard this term quite a few times, and I am not sure what does the term "hot dog" as an adjective describe?
For example:
“And they usually don't have a hot-dog lawyer waiting for them when they arrive at the station.”
From the book: 'Death by Sudoku' by Kaye Morgan
Sally Yates is a hotdog lawyer who never should have been the acting attorney general.
Joe diGenova, on Fox News (with transcript of video).
He was a hot-dog lawyer from Dallas with one of those seven-figure houses on Truman Annex.
From the novel 'Air Dance Iguana' by Tom Corcoran
Best Answer
(or 'hot dog' or 'hotdog', there's no difference here) is not a lawyer that eats hotdogs or represents hotdogs in court or is made of hotdog.
This is a very figurative use of the word 'hotdog'. Here it means someone who shows off or is self-aggrandizing in an ostentatious manner.
Of course, the first meaning of 'hot dog' as a synonym for frankfurter-style sausage (from ~1890), is not particularly literal already. Its origin is obscure, but probably a glib humorously intended coinage, possibly implying the source of the meat. In contemporary American usage, that connection is barely noticed. Puns involving it are rarely so literal and usually involve a dog on the beach rather than in a slaughterhouse.
In the end, there is nothing special about 'lawyer' here. You can have a hot dog fighter pilot, a hot dog wind surfer, a hot dog salesperson, anyone who could be said to be showing off their skills and maybe a little out of control.