[Earlier hob-or-nob, hob-nob, to toast or drink to each other alternately, drink together, from hob or nob, hob a nob, hob nob, give or take, hit or miss, however it may turn out (spoken as a toast when clinking glasses), alteration of obsolete and dialectal hab nab (perhaps originally meaning "have or have not") : probably Middle English habbe, singular present subjunctive of Middle English haven, habben, to have; see HAVE + Middle English nabbe, have not, singular present subjunctive of nabben, not to have (from Old English nabban : ne, not; see ne in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + habban, to have; see HAVE).]