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Webster 1913 Edition

Hobnob

Hob′nobˊ

,
adv.
[AS.
habban
to have +
habban
to have not;
ne
not +
habban
to have. See
Have
, and cf.
Habnab
.]
1.
Have or have not; – a familiar invitation to reciprocal drinking.
Shak.
2.
At random; hit or miss. (Obs.)
Holinshed.

Hob′nobˊ

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Hornobbed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Hornobbing
.]
1.
To drink familiarly (with another).
[ Written also
hob-a-nob
.]
2.
To associate familiarly; to be on intimate terms;
as, to
hobnob
with the political elite
.

Hob′nobˊ

,
Noun.
Familiar, social intercourse.
W. Black.

Webster 1828 Edition

Hobnob

HOB'NOB

,
adv.
Take, or not take; a familiar invitation to reciprocal drinking.
Hobson's choice, a vulgar proverbial expression, denoting without an alternative. It is said to have had its origin in the name of a person who let horses and coaches, and obliged every customer to take in his turn that horse which stood next the stable door.

Definition 2024

hobnob

hobnob

See also: hob-nob

English

Noun

hobnob ‎(plural hobnobs)

  1. (obsolete) A toast made while touching glasses together.
  2. A drinking together.
  3. An informal chat.
    The three friends had a hobnob outside the bar.

Translations

Verb

hobnob ‎(third-person singular simple present hobnobs, present participle hobnobbing, simple past and past participle hobnobbed)

  1. To toast one another by touching glasses.
    • 1828, William Carr, Dialect of Craven, in the Westriding of the County of York:
      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.
  2. To drink together.
    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch.36:
      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.
  3. To associate in a friendly manner, often with those of a higher class or status.
    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.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “chapter XVII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:
      [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.)
    • 2001, Garrison Keilor, Lake Wobegon, Summer 1956
      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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

hobnob ‎(not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) At random; at a venture; hit and miss.
    • 1616, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night act III, scene iv:
      his incensement at this moment is so implacable that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death, and sepulchre; hob-nob is his word, give’t or take’t.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Holinshed to this entry?)

Adjective

hobnob ‎(not comparable)

  1. On friendly terms; in friendly association.

Etymology

(1595–1605) From Old English habban ‎(“have”) and nabban ‎(“not have”), thus “have or have not”.

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