hustling

Verb

hustle (third-person singular simple present hustles, present participle hustling, simple past and past participle hustled)

1. To push someone roughly; to crowd; to jostle.
   • 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...1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC
2. (intransitive) To rush or hurry.
   • I'll have to hustle to get there on time.

   Synonyms:

   fly

3. (transitive) 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.1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
4. (transitive) To 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. (informal) To obtain by illicit or forceful action.

See all 19 meanings of hustle