Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun plural A place where political campaign speeches are made.
- noun plural The activities involved in political campaigning.
- noun plural Chiefly British A court formerly held in some English cities and still held infrequently in London.
- noun plural A platform on which candidates for Parliament formerly stood to address the electors.
- noun plural The proceedings of a parliamentary election.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural A court formerly held in several cities of England; specif., a court held in London, before the lord mayor, recorder, and sheriffs, to determine certain classes of suits for the recovery of lands within the city. In the progress of law reform this court has become unimportant.
- noun plural Any one of the temporary courts held for the election of members of the British Parliament.
- noun plural engraving The platform on which candidates for Parliament formerly stood in addressing the electors.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
platform wherecandidates in anelection givespeeches ; ahusting . - noun by extension An election
campaign . - noun Plural form of
husting (assembly).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the activities involved in political campaigning (especially speech making)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It was called the hustings, and filled with benches; and at one end of it, where the benches ended, mats were laid, on which those who spoke to the people stood.
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The highest court of civic judicature was the Hustings Court, so called from the Saxon word hustings, signifying the "house of things," or causes.
The Corporation of London, Its Rights and Privileges William Ferneley Allen
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The first plate represents an election riot in front of the hustings, which is wild and fairly spirited.
Pickwickian Manners and Customs Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald 1879
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It was called the hustings, and filled with benches; and at one end of it, where the benches ended, mats were laid, on which those who spoke to the people stood.
Travels in England in 1782 Karl Philipp Moritz 1775
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The inquiry marked another crucial moment in an investigation that is revealing the true extent of duplicity and criminality within a Labour government that led up to an unpopular and calamitous war; the hustings are a bid by members of that self-same party to renew its credibility and purpose after a crushing defeat at the polls.
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I think the hustings is the best place for politicians right now
Macleans.ca 2009
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I like RJ and I've met him & heard from him a few times out on the 'hustings'.
There *Is* a Senate Race In GA This Year Right? (Blog for Democracy) 2010
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It moved at 5: 00 pm to another town in the Western Vale before Alun headed off at 7: 30 to yet another 'hustings' on climate change.
Denis Campbell: Mr. Cairns Goes to Westminster? UK Election Writ Small, Retail & Local 2010
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He picked up his party's position document on housing and homelessness, his election agent (campaign manager) reviewed the day's schedule and off we headed to the first formal 'hustings' meeting of all candidates since Mr. Brown visited Her Majesty, asked her to dissolve Parliament and thus set the election date starting this race.
Denis Campbell: Mr. Cairns Goes to Westminster? UK Election Writ Small, Retail & Local 2010
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He picked up his party's position document on housing and homelessness, his election agent (campaign manager) reviewed the day's schedule and off we headed to the first formal 'hustings' meeting of all candidates since Mr. Brown visited Her Majesty, asked her to dissolve Parliament and thus set the election date starting this race.
Denis Campbell: Mr. Cairns Goes to Westminster? UK Election Writ Small, Retail & Local 2010
jaime_d commented on the word hustings
from Middlemarch
October 1, 2007
bilby commented on the word hustings
"From Old English husting 'court'. This word originated in Old Norse 'husthing', a compound comprising hus 'house' + thing 'assembly'. It was originally a council convened by a king or an earl that acted as a judicial body. By the 18th century it was a court in the city of London that met irregularly in the Guildhall. It was in this building that members of Parliament came to be nominated by a speech given from a platform upon which the Lord Mayor and aldermen were seated. This practice ended with the Ballot Act of 1872. By that time, however, the platform itself was called the hustings and, from there, it went on to refer to the place of any political speech or the process of being nominated or elected to public office."
- Dr. Goodword, alphaDictionary.com, 20 Aug 2008.
August 20, 2008