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Hobnob and Shakespeare
In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch warned Viola (who was disguised as a man) that Sir Andrew wanted to duel. "Hob, nob is his word," said Sir Toby, using "hob, nob" to mean something like "hit or miss." Sir Toby's term is probably an alteration of "hab nab," a phrase that meant "to have or not have, however it may turn out." After Shakespeare's day, hob and nob were used in the phrases "to drink hob or nob" and "to drink hobnob," which meant "to drink alternately to each other." Since "drinking hobnob" was generally done among friends, hobnob came to refer to congenial social interaction.
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Examples of hobnob in a Sentence
Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 26 Nov. 2024
Anyone who is—or wants to be—a hot ticket rocks up on the VIP days to see art and to be seen seeing art, before hobnobbing at the evenings’ gallery dinners, parties, and after-parties.
—George Nelson, ARTnews.com, 12 Oct. 2024
But for a few years, J.D. Vance joined the world of coastal elites, building a robust venture capitalist career and hobnobbing with some of the wealthiest tech leaders in the Bay Area.
—Faith E. Pinho, Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2024
Emma Stone seemed to be hobnobbing more than most A-listers.
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Hobnob.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hobnob. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
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hobnob
verb
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