hustler

[huhs-ler]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hustler ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.

Slang. a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money; swindler.

Informal. an expert gambler or game player who seeks out challengers, especially unsuspecting amateur ones, in order to win money from them: He earned his living as a pool hustler.

Slang. a prostitute.

a person who hustles.

Origin of hustler

First recorded in 1815–25; hustle + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hustler

Contemporary Examples of hustler

The two appeared nude together in the Jan. 2014 issue of Hustler, but she says they broke up in May.
Christy Mack: The Porn World Unites Over A Fallen Comrade
Aurora Snow
August 16, 2014
Strong in the thought that he had 365 days running for him, the second hustler was pleased to accept.
Portrait of the Consummate Con Man
John Lardner
May 17, 2014
At first, when his name was revealed by Hustler in connection to the case, Vitter acknowledged it.
There’s No Getting Rid of David Vitter, America’s Most Contemptible Senator
Michael Tomasky
January 22, 2014
Recently, a Photoshopped picture of conservative pundit S.E. Cupp with a phallus in her mouth was printed in Hustler magazine.
Meghan McCain: Cut It Out, Internet Bullies!
Meghan McCain
May 27, 2012
The headline on the Hustler piece poses the question, “What Would S.E. Cupp Look Like With a Dick in Her Mouth?”
Hustler Magazine Sparks Rage With a Rude Image of Pundit S.E. Cupp 
Abigail Pesta
May 24, 2012

Historical Examples of hustler

A tout is guessing all the time, but a hustler is likely to know something.
Old Man Curry
Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
He did not wait for business to come to him, he put himself in the path of business; he was a hustler.
Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence
Various
In his public speeches he alludes to himself humorously as a hustler.
From a Cornish Window
Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
"I'm a hustler on a dicker, and a hellion on junk," snapped the boss.
Blow The Man Down
Holman Day
His father was a hustler, but the family didn't take after him.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922
Lucy Maud Montgomery

Word Origin and History for hustler

1825, "thief" (especially one who roughs up his victims), from hustle (v.) + -er (1). Sense of "energetic worker" (especially, but not originally, a salesman) is from 1884; sense of "prostitute" dates from 1924.