hobnob

noun hobnobs

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

verb hobnobs · hobnobbing · hobnobbed · hob-and-nob · hob-nob

1. intransitive To drink together. 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.
2. derogatory, intransitive, often To associate with in a friendly manner, often with those of a higher class or status; to fraternize. The ambitious young student hobnobbed with the faculty at the prestigious college he hoped to attend.
3. intransitive, obsolete, rare To have or have not; to give or take. 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'
4. intransitive, obsolete To toast one another by touching glasses. 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

Similar: fraternize, rub elbows, rub shoulders

adjective

1. not comparable On friendly terms; in friendly association.

adverb

1. not comparable, obsolete At random; at a venture; hit and miss. The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images.