Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also haul hips) to leave, to escape, to run off; as excl. haul ass! let’s go! hurry up! get out of here!

1918		in E. Wilson Prelude (1967) 274: Haul ass! Hurry up!
1927		(con. 1917) J. Stevens Mattock 237: ‘Haul feet, Kansas,’ he said. [Ibid.] 279: Down the street we hauled legs as swift as we could go.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 47: Come on, let’s haul bottom away from here.
1928		R. Fisher Walls Of Jericho 29: I been haulin’ pianos; but when they starts plantin’ dynamite, this baby’s gonna start haulin’ hindparts! [Ibid.] 300: Haul hiney. Depart in great haste.
1929		C. McKay Banjo 228: I jets haul plug outs it.
1929		H.C. Witwer Yes Man’s Land 186: They hauled ankles.
1931		N. Van Patten ‘Vocab. of the Amer. Negro’ in AS VII:1 28: haul bottom. M. v. Go.
1932		R. Fisher Conjure-Man Dies 56: The flunky might ’a’ done it and hauled hips.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 216: We oughta salivate you, but haul ass outa here.
1943		R.L. Bellem ‘Feature Snatch!’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 I started to haul hips in the opposite direction.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 604: All right, men, let’s haul ass.
1956		S. Selvon Lonely Londoners 31: When you go in the hotel or the restaurant they will politely tell you to haul. [Ibid.] 105: By the time Monday morning come around he revert to ‘haul your arse’ and ‘stop —ing me up’ when anybody talk to him.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 14: ‘Let’s haul ass,’ Sanchez whispered.
1965		W. King ‘The Game’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 304: I was running from the Man [...] Hauling ass, man.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 60: Come on, haul ass.
1967		Current Sl. II:2 17: Haul bun, v. Hurry, ‘move out.’.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 134: Haul butt Leave a place.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 476: You get your ass in a house where you can be checked or you haul ass out of town.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 118: Hauled ass out of there.
1986		Miami Vice [NBC-TV] When you see that, you haul butt for the door [HDAS].
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 202: She makes like a bakery truck and hauls buns out of there.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 258: Chemo’s first instinct was to haul ass with the doctor’s cash.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 117: Two minutes from here. We haul, we might get there first.
1994		D. Lehane A Drink Before the War 13: I waited [...] for a nun to come hauling ass up the staircase.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 155: The cops froze. The blanket guys hauled. They moved east. They hauled.
2003		Bug (Aus.) Nov–Dec. 🌐 The Village People are no doubt favourites among American truckers. Gives a whole new complexion to the term ‘hauling arse’, eh?
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 149: The time to haul ass had been back at Kogon’s office.
2007		N. McCall Them (2008) 23: When blacks kept coming, white folks hauled tail out of town.
2015		‘Harry Brandt’ Whites 4: She jumps in the car, screams for the driver to haul ass.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 10: ‘He just jump from Hoosker and haul ass’.

2. (orig. US) to move fast, to rush.

1955		‘Hal Ellson’ Rock 96: I’m ready to haul-ass back upstairs.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 29: Hauled ass out fast.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 37: I hauled ass to get here.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 21: They’s [...] die before the dust-of medevac chopper could haul-ass out to us.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 80: She checked her Mickey Mouse Swatch, ‘Haul ass, girl.’.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 127: Just haul your arse down there an get some focus back for fucks sake.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 153: We make one stop, load up on kibble-and-bits, then we haul ass to the bitch’s house.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] After about twenty-five minutes hauling ass I swept in sweating under the skyscrapers.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] We hauled ass back to JP [and] skidded to a halt.
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 10: [F]resh dishes wouldn’t be ready for the dinner service unless they both hauled ass.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 248: I hauled ass over to the kitchen.

3. (US) to increase one’s efforts, to work harder.

1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 105: The only way I know to master this shit is to haul ass and study.
1974		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 3: haul ass – to move or work quickly: If you’re going to finish in time you’d better haul ass.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 372: The work was behind schedule – he’d really have to haul ass.