A woman of questionable virtue, especially from the Prohibitionist flapper era.
From hootch (alcohol) and cooter (vagina). People who visited speakeasies were considered to be of low class and even lower morals, and prostitutes were often seen in and around speakeasies, particularly in large cities.
Made popular in America by Cab Calloway's song "Minnie the Moocher", in which Minnie is a compassionate prostitute who becomes very rich, and revived in Britain through its appearance on an episode of "Jeeves & Wooster" featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie respectively.
a)Folks, now here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher / She was a red-hot hootchie cootchie
b) Wooster: I mean, all this ho de ho de ho stuff is pretty clear, but what do you suppose a hootchie cootchie is exactly?
Jeeves: It's hard to say, sir, unless it's in connection with one of the demotic American words for ardent spirits. I'm thinking of hootch, a word of Eskimo origin , I'm informed.
Wooster (amazed): You bloody well are informed, Jeeves. Do you know everything?
Jeeves (dryly): I really don't know, sir.
Its meaning is derived from the French "couche," past part of "coucher" which means "to lay down." The Hootchy-Kootchy (Hoochi-Coochi) or Cooch dance is a pseudo-Turkish, sensual dance executed only by women in short skirts, bare midriffs and tight breastbands, which is said to have originated at the Philadelphia Centennial Fair (May-Nov-1876.)
A woman who is considered sexuallypromiscuous, either due to her attitude, way in which she dresses, or her number of partners, it could also mean a combination of all three.