verb. (American).—To bestir oneself; to grapple with circumstances; to rise superior to the event. Whence RUSTLER = (1) an energetic resourceful man; and (2) a rowdy, a desperado: spec. (Western States) a cattle-lifter. RUSTLING = active, energetic, SMART (q.v.).
1872. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), The Innocents at Home, 20. Pard, he was a RUSTLER!
1882. E. V. SMALLEY, The New North-West, in The Century Magazine, Aug., 508. I’ll RUSTLE AROUND and pick up something. Ibid. RUSTLE the things off that table. Ibid. To say that a man is a RUSTLER is the highest indorsement a Dakotan can give. It means that he is pushing, energetic, smart, and successful.
1884. G. H. JESSOP, Extracts from the Correspondence of Mr. Miles Grogan, in The Century Magazine, xxxvii. 770. They ’re a thirsty crowd, an’ it comes expinsive; but they ’re worth it, fer they ’re RUSTLERS, ivery wan of thim.
1887. MORLEY ROBERTS, The Western Avernus. I tell you he was a RUSTLER.… It means a worker, an energetic man, and no slouch can be a RUSTLER.
1889. Cornhill Magazine, July, 62. I was out one day after antelope (I RUSTLED all my meat, except a ham now and then as a luxury), when I happened to come across a large patch of sunflowers.
1889. Harper’s Magazine, lxxi. 190. RUSTLE now, boys, RUSTLE! for you have a long and hard day’s work before you.
1892. Scotsman, 7 May, ‘RUSTLERS’ and ‘Regulators.’ The lawless element … not content with stealing cattle, openly defied the authorities. In June … an expedition started … and the result was that sixty-one thieves were hanged, after a pitched battle between the cattle men and the RUSTLERS.
