hustle
verb /ˈhʌsl/
/ˈhʌsl/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they hustle | /ˈhʌsl/ /ˈhʌsl/ |
| he / she / it hustles | /ˈhʌslz/ /ˈhʌslz/ |
| past simple hustled | /ˈhʌsld/ /ˈhʌsld/ |
| past participle hustled | /ˈhʌsld/ /ˈhʌsld/ |
| -ing form hustling | /ˈhʌslɪŋ/ /ˈhʌslɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] hustle somebody + adv./prep. to make somebody move quickly by pushing them in a rough aggressive way
- He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of the room.
- I was hustled into a waiting car.
- She was hustled away by some police officers.
- [transitive] hustle somebody (into something) to force somebody to make a decision before they are ready or sure
- All the family felt that Stephen had been hustled into the engagement by Claire.
- [transitive, intransitive] hustle (something) (informal, especially North American English) to sell or obtain something, often illegally
- to hustle dope
- They survive by hustling on the streets.
- [intransitive] (North American English, informal) to act in an aggressive way or with a lot of energy
- [intransitive] (North American English) to work as a prostitute
Word Originlate 17th cent. (originally in the sense ‘shake, toss’): from Middle Dutch hutselen. Sense (5) dates from the early 20th cent.