"the hots"

[Mullins, Bill]

OED has 1947.

"Toward More Picturesque Speech," _The Savitar [Univ of Missouri Yearbook]
1941_, pub 1942, p. 233

"One of the most vivid bits of campus slang, or lingo, to emanate from any
campus in a long while is the Missouri expression, "the hots," which is the
"college" way of saying somebody's in love with or inclined in that
direction toward another person.  Thus we get "He's really got the hots for
her" or "She's got the deep endurin' hots for him," and you just aren't one
of the fellas if you can't sling this bit of English around with agility."