hustle

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To push someone roughly

   To push someone roughly; to crowd; to jostle.

2. 2

   To rush or hurry.

   • I'll have to hustle to get there on time.
   • Men in dairy lunches were hustling to gulp down the food which cooks had hustled to fry
3. 3

   To bundle

   To 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.
4. ›+ 16 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To con, swindle, or deceive, especially financially.

      • The guy tried to hustle me into buying into a bogus real estate deal.
   2. 5

      To play deliberately badly at a game or sport in an attempt to encourage players to…

      To play deliberately badly at a game or sport in an attempt to encourage players to challenge one.

   3. 6

      To obtain by illicit or forceful action.

   4. 7

      To sell sex

      To sell sex; to work as a pimp.

   5. 8

      To be a prostitute

      To 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
   6. 9

      To 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.
   7. 10

      To dance the hustle, a disco dance.

   8. 11

      To work.

   9. 12

      To 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.
   10. 13

       A state of busy activity.

   11. 14

       A propensity to work hard and get things done

       A 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.'
   12. 15

       A type of disco dance, commonly danced to the Van McCoy song The Hustle (1975).

   13. 16

       A scam or swindle.

   14. 17

       An activity, such as prostitution or reselling stolen items, that a prisoner uses to earn…

       An activity, such as prostitution or reselling stolen items, that a prisoner uses to earn money in prison.

   15. 18

       An 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
   16. 19

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

       • Everybody's got a hustle.

The neighborhood

• synonymmake tracks
• synonymrush
• synonymswindle
• synonymdeceive
• synonymturn tricks
• synonymprostitute oneself
• synonympimp out