[has-uh
l] 
noun, verb, -sled, -sling. Informal.| 1. | a disorderly dispute. |
| 2. | a problem brought about by pressures of time, money, inconvenience, etc.: Finding a decent place to have lunch in this neighborhood is always a hassle. |
| 3. | to dispute or quarrel: children hassling over who has the most toys. |
| 4. | to take time or effort: We don't want to hassle with all that waiting in line. |
| 5. | to bother, annoy, or harass: I'll do the work, so don't hassle me. |
| has·sle (hās'əl) n.
v. intr. To argue or fight: customers hassling with merchants over high prices. v. tr. To bother or harass: street gangs hassling passersby. [Origin unknown.] Word History: It is difficult to believe that there were no hassles before 1945, the year in which the noun hassle is first recorded in English. The origins of this word might be considered a hassle for the etymologist. An English dialect word, hassle, meaning "to hack at, cut with a blunt knife and with a sawing motion," is recorded at the end of the 19th century. A Southern dialect word, hassle, "to pant, breathe heavily," is also a possible source. A more popular notion has been that hassle is a blend, but here again we have a hassle. Three separate possibilities have been proposed, a combination of harass and hustle, haggle and tussle, and haggle and wrestle. Given all these possibilities, it is clear why words such as hassle end up with the etymology "origin unknown." |