rustle up
Britishverb
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to prepare (a meal, snack, etc) rapidly, esp at short notice
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to forage for and obtain
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Get together food or some other needed item with some effort, as in I don't know what we have but I'll rustle up a meal somehow, or You boys need to rustle up some wood for a campfire. The verb rustle here means “to assemble in a hurry.” [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Do labor leaders really think they can’t rustle up a quarter of their members to ensure the union preserves its role in representing workers?
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026
In the months leading up to the conference, with Belem's few hotels full, organizers scrambled to rustle up delegate accommodation in private homes, universities and schools.
From Barron's • Nov. 9, 2025
Once the press gets wind that Mary’s marriage has ended, the gossip is relentless, and the one-time belle of the ball can’t rustle up so much as a small tea party.
From Salon • Sep. 14, 2025
He has just shy of a month to rustle up another rallying cry.
From BBC • Oct. 30, 2024
Before Clare could rustle up a response, Gingersnipes continued, “And if you wanted to get rid of me so badly all along, you should never have pretended to like me. That was really mean, Clare.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.