hustle

present singular third person hustles · participle present hustling · participle past hustled · past hustled

1. To push someone roughly; to crowd; to jostle.

   1 more example

   There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.[…]Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching telegrams.

   1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo rush or hurry.

   I'll have to hustle to get there on time.

   1 more example

   Men in dairy lunches were hustling to gulp down the food which cooks had hustled to fry

   1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 12, in Babbitt

   Synonyms: fly

3. transitiveTo bundle; to stow something quickly.

   There was a person called Nana who ruled the nursery. Sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about, and sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind and hustled them away in cupboards.

   1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

4. transitiveTo con, swindle, or deceive, especially financially.

   The guy tried to hustle me into buying into a bogus real estate deal.

   Synonyms: defraud

5. To play deliberately badly at a game or sport in an attempt to encourage players to challenge one.
6. informalTo obtain by illicit or forceful action.
7. informalTo sell sex; to work as a pimp.

   Synonyms: pimp

8. informalTo be a prostitute; to exchange use of one's body for sexual purposes for money.

   All my life, been hustling / And tonight is my appraisal / 'Cause I'm a hooker selling songs / And my pimp's a record label

   2018, Brendon Urie, Michael Angelakos, Sam Hollander, Morgan Kibby, Jake Sinclair, Dillon Francis, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”, in Pray for the Wicked, performed by Panic! at the Disco

   Synonyms: sell one's body

9. informalTo serve (a clientele) as a prostitute.

   When I was in Morocco I wrote this play ("Playland Blues") about young kids who […] hustle old gay men and closet queens.

   1976 February 14, Tommi Avicolli, Miguel Pinero, “Miguel Pinero: Prisoner, Playwright, God”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 33, page 9

10. To dance the hustle, a disco dance.
11. informalTo work.

    Synonyms: labor

12. informalTo put a lot of effort into one's work.

    Frazier and Gary worked for me for free -- for six months -- they didn't take any money from the house. They worked for tips. They both had other jobs, and they came in here and they hustled their ass.

    1977 August 27, Steve Savage, Susan "Suki" Eagan, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Suki, But Were Too Distracted In Chaps to Ask Her”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 8, page 9

plural hustles

1. countableuncountableA state of busy activity.
2. countableuncountableA propensity to work hard and get things done; ability to hustle.

   'It's just natural for the folks here to be indolent,' she said. 'They just haven't got any hustle in them.'

   1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 3, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 26

3. countableuncountablepreceded by a definite articleA type of disco dance, commonly danced to the Van McCoy song The Hustle (1975).
4. countableuncountableA scam or swindle.
5. countableslanguncountableAn activity, such as prostitution or reselling stolen items, that a prisoner uses to earn money in prison.
6. countableslanguncountableAn act of prostitution.

   Little Joe never once gave it away / Everybody had to pay and pay / A hustle here and a hustle there / New York City's the place

   1972, Lou Reed, “Walk on the Wild Side”

7. countableinformaluncountableAn activity, especially to achieve a desired goal or make money.

   Everybody's got a hustle.