hobnob
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From hob and nob, hob or nob (“a phrase spoken when making a toast, possibly meaning ‘give and take’; to take turns toasting or buying rounds of drinks”) (archaic), from dialectal hab nab (“to have or have not, in the sense of an invitation to have a drink”), from Old English habban (“to have, possess”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize”)) + nabban (“to not have”) (from ne (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *né (“not”)) + habban).
Inflected forms:
form: hobnobs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: hobnobs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: hobnobbing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: hobnobbed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: hobnobbed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: hob-and-nob
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
form: hob-nob
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A toast made while touching glasses together.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: With a hob-nob, and a merry go-round, / We'll pull in ere reason fail; / For the stoutest man in the kingdom found, / Must knock under to humming ale.
A prologue of cherry bounce,—brandy,—preceded the entertainment, which was enlivened by hob-nobs and joyous toasts.
gloss: A drinking together.
pos: noun
gloss: An informal chat.
pos: noun
examples: The three friends had a hobnob outside the bar.
The American people are largely under the influence of animal magnetism. Whether they are drawn to the levée of a Tom Thumb or to a hobnob with the Russians, the safety-valves of their joyous feelings are sure to be opened when the Stars and Stripes flaunt over their churches, public buildings, and private dwellings.
[T]he musical and dramatic critiques in our daily papers are dishonest, shameful, utterly unworthy, and a scandal to journalism and Ireland! Praise is lavishly dispensed because the system pays, […] 'A full house' on Saturday will procure a longer advertisement on Monday morning, another 'free pass' all round, and a hobnob perhaps with Signor, Senora, Herr Bugle, Madame, or Madamoiselle.
gloss: To drink together.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Many a glass of wine have we all of us drank, I have very little doubt, hob-and-nobbing with the hospitable giver, and wondering how the deuce he paid for it.
When the dinner was a little forward, and time for wine came, the Emperor fills his own cup—fills the Empress's—fills St. Martin [of Tours]'s,—affectionately hobnobs with St. Martin. […] St. Martin looks round, first, deliberately;—becomes aware of a tatterdemalion and thirsty-looking soul of a beggar at his chair side, who has managed to get his cup filled somehow, also—by a charitable lacquey. St. Martin turns his back on the Empress, and hobnobs with him!
gloss: To associate with in a friendly manner, often with those of a higher class or status; to fraternize.
pos: verb
tags: derogatory
intransitive
often
examples: The ambitious young student hobnobbed with the faculty at the prestigious college he hoped to attend.
His favorite spot in the club was the bar, where he could hobnob with the big-wigs.
Here, over fiery "monaghahela," Jean Batiste, the sallow half-breed voyageur from the north—and who, deserting the service of the "North West" (the Hudson's Bay Company), has come down the Mississippi, from the "Falls," to try the sweets and the liberty of "free" trapping—hobnobs with a stalwart leather-clad "boy," just returned from trapping on the waters of Grand River, on the western side the mountains, who interlards his mountain jargon with Spanish words picked up in Taos and California.
Well, you know all about how we dine, and assume, as you may, that we never ate more heartily, hob[-]nobbed more cordially, or interchanged with more frankness and sincerity all the affectionate social amenities which flow from a community of feeling amongst men who are bound together by the great bond of intellectual citizenship, members of the great "mysteries" of knowledge.
A man who never misused his time here; a Fellow of his Colleges, M.A., Lecturer, Don; […] my name, alas is not upon the board—my poverty, indeed, not will, prevented it, and so beneath his wing I dine at the "high table" with the reverend deans, and hobnob with professors.
But it must be in solitude. I do not need or desire to hobnob artificially with other old men in order to revisit them in their salad days, and to renew my own.
[My old schoolmaster] appeared in the french window, looking cold and severe, as I had so often seen him look when hobnobbing with him in his study at Malvern House, self not there as a willing guest but because I’d been sent for. ("I should like to see Wooster in my study immediately after morning prayers" was the formula.)
We are Sanctified Brethren, […] whom God has chosen to place in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, a town of about twelve hundred in the center of the state, populated by German Catholics and Norwegian Lutherans, whom Scripture tells us to keep clear of, holding fast to the Principle of Separation[…], which is not such a big problem for my people, because we are standoffish by nature and not given to hobnobbing with strangers. Separation is the exact right Principle for us.
[A] club that has earned the right to aspire to hobnobbing with European competitors could find itself brawling against relegation.
He met President Biden and embarked on a 21-city global tour, hobnobbing with leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.
gloss: To have or have not; to give or take.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
rare
examples: He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuate brall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment is ſo implacable, that ſatisfaction can be none, but by pangs of death and ſepulcher: Hob, nob, is his word: giu't or take't.
gloss: To toast one another by touching glasses.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: I have frequently heard one gentleman, in company, say to another, will you hob-nob with me? When this challenge was accepted, the glasses were instantly filled, and then they made the glasses touch or kiss each other. This gentle striking of the drinking vessels I always supposed explained the term hob-nob.
gloss: On friendly terms; in friendly association.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
Synonyms: fraternize
rub elbows
rub shoulders
Related words: snob
Derived words: hobnobber
hobnobbery
hobnobbing
hobnobby
Translations: