hustings

noun

1. A platform where candidates in an election give speeches; a husting.

   “I now mounted the hustings, and, without any regard to decency or modesty, made as emphatical a speech in favour of the king as before I had done against him.”

2. (Australia, Canada, US)An election campaign.

   “Washington is awfully deserted now that every congressman is out on the hustings.”

   “While on the hustings, both men made quick jaunts into the South during late April.”

   “In the forthcoming election the Budget will be referred to very little indeed out on the hustings.”

3. (UK)A debate during an election campaign where the public can question some or all of the candidates.

   “The candidate was having a strong campaign but fell apart at the hustings.”

   “Finding that he could not be heard during a hustings in the town hall, he armed members of his family with a bell and instead addressed bemused voters at the open windows of their tenements.”

   “'Look, Mr Robinson,' he spits, before attempting to blame 'the most minor confusion' on the fact that his candidate wasn't listening properly because he'd been 'doing hustings after hustings after hustings' and facing 'question after question after question'. In fact he's done three hustings during the entire campaign.”

   “Health secretary Matt Hancock was booed and heckled at a general election hustings in his constituency after he launched an attack on Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of antisemitism.”

   “In April he addressed, after his father, a large audience at a hustings in Edinburgh, the first time he had stepped onto a stage and spoken.”

4. (form-of, plural)plural of husting