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hustle

[huhs-uh l]
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verb (used without object), hus·tled, hus·tling.
  1. to proceed or work rapidly or energetically: to hustle about putting a 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), hus·tled, hus·tling.
  1. to convey or cause to move, especially to leave, roughly or hurriedly: They hustled him out of the bar.
  2. to pressure or coerce (a person) to buy or do something: to hustle the customers into buying more drinks.
  3. to urge, prod, or speed up: Hustle your work along.
  4. to obtain by aggressive or 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 venders began hustling the town at dawn.
  7. to sell aggressively: 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.
    3. to promote or publicize in a lively, vigorous, or aggressive manner: an author hustling her new book on the TV talk shows.
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noun
  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, to participate in an illicit scheme, dishonest gambling game, etc.
    2. such a product, scheme, gambling game, etc.
  4. Informal. a competitive struggle: the hustle to earn a living.
  5. 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.
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Origin of hustle

1675–85; < Dutch husselen, variant of hutselen to shake, equivalent to hutsen to shake + -el- -le
Related formsout·hus·tle, verb (used with object), out·hus·tled, out·hus·tling.un·hus·tled, adjectiveun·hus·tling, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for hustling

hustle

verb
  1. to shove or crowd (someone) roughly
  2. to move or cause to move hurriedly or furtivelyhe hustled her out of sight
  3. (tr) to deal with or cause to proceed hurriedlyto hustle legislation through
  4. slang to earn or obtain (something) forcefully
  5. US and Canadian 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
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Derived Formshustler, noun

Word Origin

C17: from Dutch husselen to shake, from Middle Dutch hutsen
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 hustling

hustle

v.

1680s, "to shake to and fro" (especially of money in a cap, as part of a game called hustle-cap), metathesized from Dutch hutselen, husseln "to shake, to toss," frequentative of hutsen, variant of hotsen "to shake." "The stems hot-, hut- appear in a number of formations in both High and Low German dialects, all implying a shaking movement" [OED]. Related: Hustled; hustling. Meaning "push roughly, shove" first recorded 1751. That of "hurry, move quickly" is from 1812.

The key-note and countersign of life in these cities [of the U.S. West] is the word "hustle." We have caught it in the East. but we use it humorously, just as we once used the Southern word "skedaddle," but out West the word hustle is not only a serious term, it is the most serious in the language. [Julian Ralph, "Our Great West," N.Y., 1893]

Sense of "to get in a quick, illegal manner" is 1840 in American English; that of "to sell goods aggressively" is 1887.

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hustle

n.

"pushing activity; activity in the interest of success," 1891, American English, from hustle (v.); earlier it meant "a shaking together" (1715). Sense of "illegal business activity" is by 1963, American English. As a name of a popular dance, by 1975.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper