hustler

[huhs-ler]

noun

1. an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.

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

3. 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.

4. Slang.,  a prostitute.

5. a person who hustles.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hustler¹

First recorded in 1815–25; hustle + -er ¹

Example Sentences

And that’s just me, going from a shy kid to being a hustler and grinder and living in New York and just continuing the pace and doing more and more.

From Los Angeles Times

The WWE is a shallow reality show perpetuated by rich hustlers to con those of average means so the rich can get richer and the poor don’t notice.

From Salon

But the liveliest and most revealing parts of “The Colonel and the King” actually come before the Colonel meets the King, as Guralnick paints a picture of a tireless hustler desperate to reinvent himself.

From Los Angeles Times

As with the proverbial frog in that pot of water, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s chilling action-thriller “Cloud,” about a callow internet hustler’s reckoning, has nothing good to offer about where online anonymity and e-capitalism have gotten us.

From Los Angeles Times

On Instagram, he has been much more brash about his "Midas touch" - saying he is a "hustler" who works hard.

From BBC

Related Words

• call girl 
• swindler 
• whore