hobnob
verb /ˈhɒbnɒb/
/ˈhɑːbnɑːb/
[intransitive] (informal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they hobnob | /ˈhɒbnɒb/ /ˈhɑːbnɑːb/ |
| he / she / it hobnobs | /ˈhɒbnɒbz/ /ˈhɑːbnɑːbz/ |
| past simple hobnobbed | /ˈhɒbnɒbd/ /ˈhɑːbnɑːbd/ |
| past participle hobnobbed | /ˈhɒbnɒbd/ /ˈhɑːbnɑːbd/ |
| -ing form hobnobbing | /ˈhɒbnɒbɪŋ/ /ˈhɑːbnɑːbɪŋ/ |
- hobnob (with somebody) to spend a lot of time with somebody, especially somebody who is rich and/or famous
- He was often seen hobnobbing with influential business people.
Word Originearly 19th cent. (in the sense ‘drink together’): from archaic hob or nob, hob and nob, probably meaning ‘give and take’, used by two people drinking to each other's health, from dialect hab nab ‘have or not have’.