hustings
[huhs-tingz]
- (before 1872) the temporary platform on which candidates for the British Parliament stood when nominated and from which they addressed the electors.
- any place from which political campaign speeches are made.
- the political campaign trail.
- Also called hustings court. a local court in certain parts of Virginia.
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Origin of hustings
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hustings
Contemporary Examples
Then, once she hit the hustings, sell those email addresses to the Clinton campaign and shut down.
Is Ready for Hillary Ready to Fold—or Work With Candidate Clinton?David Freedlander
November 13, 2014
The Shaheen campaign pounced, spending part of the next day hitting the hustings in Sullivan County.
That might be a better image than that of a candidate repeating the same attack lines on the hustings.
The sooner Romney gets out there as a candidate on the hustings, the sooner the media scrutiny intensifies.
As the couple takes to the hustings, speculation is rife over the post-nup agreement.
Historical Examples
They figure in the budget, and are formidable on the hustings.
BarringtonCharles James Lever
Over the hustings he introduced a glimpse of the old Ipswich gables.
Pickwickian Manners and CustomsPercy Fitzgerald
I should think so: a man for whom I stood godfather at the hustings, Mr. Dale!
My Novel, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
He could not go up on the hustings, and there defy the duke.
Framley ParsonageAnthony Trollope
You cannot set up the hustings in an armed camp of twenty-eight millions.
The ArenaVarious
hustings
- British (before 1872) the platform on which candidates were nominated for Parliament and from which they addressed the electors
- the proceedings at a parliamentary election
- political campaigning
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Word Origin
C11: from Old Norse hūsthing, from hūs house + thing assembly
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hustings
n.
Old English husting "meeting, court, tribunal," from Old Norse husðing "council," from hus "house" (see house (n.)) + ðing "assembly" (see thing); so called because it was a meeting of the men who formed the "household" of a nobleman or king. The native Anglo-Saxon word for this was folc-gemot. The plural became the usual form c.1500; sense of "temporary platform for political speeches" developed by 1719, apparently from London's Court of Hustings, presided over by the Lord Mayor, which was held on a platform in the Guildhall. This sense broadened to encompass the whole election process.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper