hustler

noun

hus·​tler ˈhə-slər 

plural hustlers

: a person who hustles: such as

a

: one who obtains money by fraud or deceit : scammer, swindler

A financial hustler who orchestrated the theft of $6.5 million from investors …

—Shayna Jacobs and Alec Tabak

… most of the eight major frauds Minkow helped uncover in the past year have involved hustlers trying to sell investments to church groups.

—Adam Zagorin

b

: one who lures less skillful players into competing at a gambling game

a pool hustler

This is where the chess hustlers have seized their opportunity. Camped out at the picnic tables in Harvard Square, these seasoned locals will play with you—for a price.

—Evan Zigmond

c

: an athlete who plays with alert energy and aggressiveness

By always being the teacher's pet, by being a hustler in football practice and by being the fringe member of many social groups but the leader of none, Kelly managed to mask his insecurities.

—Michael Reese

d

: prostitute

a male hustler

"Beat" is old carny slang. According to Beat Movement legend … , Ginsberg and Kerouac picked it up from a character named Herbert Huncke, a gay street hustler and drug addict from Chicago who began hanging around Times Square in 1939 …

—Louis Menand

Synonyms

• bawd
• call girl
• cocotte
• courtesan
• drab
• hooker
• prostitute
• sex worker
• streetwalker
• tart
• whore

Examples of hustler in a Sentence

policemen kept the street clean of hustlers

the ad for the sales job claims that for someone who's a real hustler, the sky's the limit

Recent Examples on the Web

To embrace ball is to embrace skill as a gateway from hardship to glory, and the hustler’s grind of honing a skill set for primetime is relatable for a class of performers thinking of their own maneuvers as feats of dexterity and virility. —Sheldon Pearce, NPR, 13 June 2024

And GoodFellas didn’t have a character like Ginger McKenna, a hustler who proves just as conniving as the men around her. —Will Leitch, Vulture, 8 Mar. 2024

Two street basketball hustlers in Los Angeles, played by Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes, team up to score some cash. —Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2024

Nor will the statistics explain why old men like my father returned paranoid, suspicious of the Kerala hustler, wary of the mythical burglar who targets only Gulf houses. —Deepak Unnikrishnan, Foreign Affairs, 7 Feb. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined above