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

: sex worker

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

• prostitute
• hooker [informal + disapproving]

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

So what separates the side hustles earning perpetual income from the rest, and what should aspiring e-commerce side-hustlers expect along the way? —Rytis Lauris, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025

Relations were strained but ultimately peaceful between the families until the wild and unpredictable hustler Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet (Ana de Armas) and her two lovers, Rudy Lorenz (Felix Kammerer) and Robert Phillipson (Toby Wallace), showed up. —EW.com, 23 Aug. 2025

What about inviting another local race hustler of yore – Henry Rogers? —Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 22 Aug. 2025

Roc is at his best skillfully weaving internal and external rhymes together, crafting scenes of his charmed life as an indomitable hustler who can’t be shown up, intimidated, or outrhymed. —Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 8 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1789, in the meaning defined above