hustle

American  

[huhs-uhl] / ˈhʌs əl /

verb (used without object)

• hustles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hustled,
  past participle,  past
• hustling
  present participle

1. to proceed or work rapidly or energetically.

   The sisters hustled about, putting the house in order.

2. to push or force one's way; jostle or shove.

3. to be aggressive, especially in business or other financial dealings.

4. Slang. to earn one's living by illicit or unethical means.

5. Slang. (of a prostitute) to solicit clients.

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verb (used with object)

• hustles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hustled,
  past participle,  past
• hustling
  present participle

1. to convey or cause to move, especially to leave, roughly or hurriedly.

   His bodyguards hustled him out of the court past policemen and paramilitary soldiers.

2. to urge, prod, or speed up.

   Hustle your work along.

3. to pressure or coerce (a person) to buy or do something.

   Our waiter hustled us into ordering more than we could eat.

4. to obtain by aggressive and often illicit means.

   He could always hustle a buck or two from some sucker.

5. to beg; solicit.

6. to sell in or work (an area), especially by high-pressure tactics.

   The souvenir vendors began hustling the town at dawn.

7. to sell, promote, or publicize in a lively, vigorous, or aggressive manner.

   to hustle souvenirs.

8. to jostle, push, or shove roughly.

9. Slang. to induce (someone) to gamble or to promote (a gambling game) when the odds of winning are overwhelmingly in one's own favor.

10. Slang. to cheat; swindle.

    They hustled him out of his savings.

11. Slang.

    1. (of a prostitute) to solicit (someone).

    2. to attempt to persuade (someone) to have sexual relations.

noun

• hustles
  plural

1. energetic activity, as in work.

2. discourteous shoving, pushing, or jostling.

3. Slang.

   1. an inducing by fraud, pressure, or deception, especially of inexperienced or uninformed persons, to buy something, participate in an illicit scheme or dishonest gambling game, etc.

   2. such a product, scheme, gambling game, etc.

4. Slang. a competitive struggle.

   Why not take a break from the hustle to find a place where the tranquility of nature frees your mind to do its most innovative thinking.

5. Slang. any means of earning a living; a paid job or occupation.

   The university denied him tenure, so I guess he has to find a new hustle.

6. a fast, lively, popular ballroom dance evolving from Latin American, swing, rock, and disco dance styles, with a strong basic rhythm and simple step pattern augmented by strenuous turns, breaks, etc.

hustle British  

/ ˈhʌsəl /

verb

1. to shove or crowd (someone) roughly

2. to move or cause to move hurriedly or furtively

   he hustled her out of sight

3. (tr) to deal with or cause to proceed hurriedly

   to hustle legislation through

4. slang to earn or obtain (something) forcefully

5. slang (of procurers and prostitutes) to solicit

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noun

1. an instance of hustling

2. undue activity

3. a disco dance of the 1970s

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hustler
  noun
• outhustle
  verb (used with object)
• unhustled
  adjective
• unhustling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hustles
  plural

Participles

• hustling
  present
• hustled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hustle
  simple
• hustles
  simple
• have hustled
  perfect
• has hustled
  perfect
• am hustling
  progressive
• are hustling
  progressive
• is hustling
  progressive
• have been hustling
  perfect progressive
• has been hustling
  perfect progressive

Past

• hustled
  simple
• had hustled
  perfect
• was hustling
  progressive
• were hustling
  progressive
• had been hustling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hustle
  simple
• will have hustled
  perfect
• will be hustling
  progressive
• will have been hustling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hustle

First recorded in 1675–85; from Dutch husselen, hutselen “to shake, toss,” equivalent to hutsen “to shake” + -el- frequentative suffix; cf. -le

Explanation

To hustle something means to hurriedly push it along. If you overslept, you'll have to hustle out of the house to get to work on time. Hustle comes from the Dutch word for "shake" or "toss." As a noun, a hustle is a busy, hurried scene, like the hustle of the subway at rush hour. We also call the act of swindling a hustle, because it happens so fast. As a verb, hustle can either mean to swindle someone or to hurry them, or to work hard. You can hustle someone out the door. If you hustle, you can earn good tips as a waiter.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hustle hustles hustled hustling

She acknowledges there’s a bit of irony in her AI fears given she has been able to build a side hustle with blue-collar-themed content thanks to social-media platforms reliant on algorithms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Turns out, he has a side gig at the internet company — talk about NYC hustle culture.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

Another comment reads simply: "Superman also had a side hustle."

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

“It wouldn’t be good to sideline small businesses, because we all need to hustle to make ends meet,” he said in Spanish.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Everything’s a hustle, and I got my own hustle now.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz

The area of law has always been ripe for fraud, but the hustles have evolved, getting more sophisticated in the past year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Here, Madonna takes the listener through a pivotal moment in her early career, as she dances, performs and hustles at the famous New York club where she eventually broke through.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

Portnoy hustles for years, schlepping papers around town in a secondhand van and, on occasion, cleaning poop from one of his newspaper boxes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

According to recent data, many young people are turning to side hustles to help fund their education and day-to-day living costs.

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

All the hustles and the talk and the suits and the laughter.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz

What we learn from the ad is that Jenner is always in motion, hustled through her home by someone who works for her, passing other people who work for her.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

Four days later, Carvalho had hustled across the country to speak on August 8 at a White House cybersecurity summit, with AllHere allegedly paying for the airfare and hotel accommodation, sources told The Times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026

His side were hustled out for 152, then England were decimated in a single session after tea.

From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025

Chin hustled back to find that his building hadn’t yet caught fire—so he took the elevator up to fetch what he could.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

Moms pushing strollers hustled around the paved track.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

It was on line and probably would have nailed the hustling Gantner but John cut it off, then threw wildly past catcher Don Slaught and into the Brewers’ dugout as Gantner scored.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Raducanu played with an aggressive fearlessness during that unforgettable run at Flushing Meadows, taking returns early and hustling her opponents as she did not drop a set.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

There are already those who are hustling in AI out of fears that it is their last chance at the American dream.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

“You should have seen me, I was hustling and hustling for them,” she recounts about finding her famous client a home to purchase.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026

Then she noticed the bloodstain on my blanket and tsked tsked before hustling off to get me a new one.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

Related Words

• rush