hustler

[huhs-ler] /ˈhʌs lər/
noun
1.
an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.
2.
Slang. a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money; swindler.
3.
Informal. an expert gambler or game player who seeks out challengers, especially unsuspecting amateur ones, in order to win money from them:
He earned his living as a pool hustler.
4.
Slang. a prostitute.
5.
a person who hustles.
Origin
1815-25; hustle + -er1
Examples from the web for hustler
  • And it is a cliche of the street that the biggest mark is another hustler.
  • Actually, maybe he has three problems, because he can't bring himself to tell the hustler how he feels.
  • The hustler's creed says you can't sell what you can't promote.
  • The rapper epitomizes the eternally unruffled hustler who doesn't have to sweat to get what he wants, whenever he wants.
  • Walters had asked him, for the world to see, if he was a hustler.
Word Origin and History for hustler
n.

1825, "thief" (especially one who roughs up his victims), from hustle (v.) + -er (1). Sense of "energetic worker" (especially, but not originally, a salesman) is from 1884; sense of "prostitute" dates from 1924.

Slang definitions & phrases for hustler

hustler

noun
  1. A thief or a dealer in stolen goods: and sells to hustlers like Tommy at about one-third its retail value (1825+)
  2. A confidence trickster or swindler, esp one who pretends ignorance of a game where he or she is in fact an expert and sure to win; con man, shark (1914+)
  3. A prostitute; hooker: I ain't nothing but a hustler (1924+)
  4. An energetic, aggressive performer or worker: An active and successful businessman achieves the honorable distinction of a ''hustler'' or a ''rustler'' (1882+)