Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To associate familiarly.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Take or not take: a familiar invitation to drinking.
- At random; come what will.
- Also written hob-a-nob, hob-and-nob, hob-or-nob.
- To drink together; hence, to talk familiarly or socially. Also hob-a-nob, hob-and-nob, hob-or-nob.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To drink familiarly (with another).
- intransitive verb To associate familiarly; to be on intimate terms.
- noun Familiar, social intercourse.
- adverb Have or have not; -- a familiar invitation to reciprocal drinking.
- adverb At random; hit or miss. (Obs.)
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
informal chat . - verb To associate in a friendly manner, often with those of a higher class or status.
- verb To drink together.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb rub elbows with
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hobnob.
Examples
-
(The nature of the social ceremony named the "hobnob" is not now understood, but it is known that it was a sign of amity and favor.)
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 1 Ambrose Bierce 1878
-
The French once again showed that they would rather hobnob and vacation with dictators than support democrats in the Arab world.
Muqtedar Khan: Egypt: The Age of Freedom has Begun. Amen! Muqtedar Khan 2011
-
In one of her wittiest pieces, three gorgeously entangled clay figures hobnob.
Meet the best new artists in Britain Kate Kellaway 2010
-
The media elite or "brancha" roll out of bed to sandwich kiosks on leafy Rothschild Boulevard and hobnob over dinner at trendy Italian restaurant Cantina.
Coming to America Amy Chozick 2011
-
Order a thimble of strong, raki-spiked elliniki coffee and hobnob with black-shirted shepherds listening to Cretan music on Radio Kriti FM at the kafeneion in the central square, then pay a call at the corner house, cluttered with memorabilia, where sweet-voiced Nikos Xylouris grew up.
-
The French once again showed that they would rather hobnob and vacation with dictators than support democrats in the Arab world.
Muqtedar Khan: Egypt: The Age of Freedom has Begun. Amen! Muqtedar Khan 2011
-
Every three years, ANF members hobnob with other noble associations from around Europe at a convention organized by the Commission of Information and Liaison of the Noble Associations of Europe.
What's a Poor French Noble to Do Without a King to Call His Own? Max Colchester 2011
-
Bishops hobnob with the rich and powerful so they have no concept of what is happening with the middle and poor classes.
-
Mr. Silver, a 67-year-old Manhattan attorney, had flown down to Puerto Rico to hobnob with lawmakers at the annual political conference, Somos El Futuro.
Speaker Injured In Bike Accident Jacob Gershman 2011
-
"Husain's bare feet always symbolized his connection to the people of his country and kept him grounded in its ethos, even as he rose from his very humble origins to hobnob with the rich and powerful," said photographer Ram Rahman, in New York, whose parents were friends of the artist.
Famed but Controversial Painter M.F. Husain Dies Tripti Lahiri 2011
cosmican commented on the word hobnob
socialize
December 23, 2007
muamor commented on the word hobnob
"Hobnobbing with our social betters can be a hit-or-miss proposition, a fact that has an etymological justification. The verb hobnob originally meant “to drink together�? and occurred as a varying phrase, hob or nob, hob-a-nob, or hob and nob, the first of which is recorded in 1763. This phrasal form reflects the origins of the verb in similar phrases that were used when two people toasted each other. The phrases were probably so used because hob is a variant of hab and nob of nab, which are probably forms of have and its negative. In Middle English, for example, one finds the forms habbe, “to have,�? and nabbe, “not to have.�? Hab or nab, or simply hab nab, thus meant “get or lose, hit or miss,�? and the variant hob-nob also meant “hit or miss.�? Used in the drinking phrase, hob or nob probably meant “give or take�?; from a drinking situation hob nob spread to other forms of chumminess."
http://www.answers.com/topic/hobnob
March 7, 2008
crunchysaviour commented on the word hobnob
Also a delicious biscuit; an especially delicious biscuit, come to that, and, dare I say it, King of biscuits.
August 21, 2008
bilby commented on the word hobnob
Overrated.
August 21, 2008
crunchysaviour commented on the word hobnob
Disagree.
Strongly.
August 24, 2008
maryw commented on the word hobnob
Homer Hickam, Carrying Albert Home (New York: HarperCollins, 2015), p. 79June 29, 2020