▪ I. ˈhob-nob, phr. and adv.
[In origin app. a variant of hab nab, hab or nab: see hab adv.]
1. Phrase hob, nob: have or have not; used by Shakespeare app. in the sense ‘give or take’.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 262 His incensement..is so implacable, that satisfaction can be none, but by pangs of death and sepulcher: Hob, nob, is his word: giu't or take't. |
2. adv. = hab nab (hab adv. 1); hit or miss; however it may turn out; at random.
| 1660 Fisher Rusticks Alarm Wks. (1679) 505 [He] quotes as many of them, as he judges, as to number, may make a Jury, and so Hob-Nob, as they say, without mattering much what they are, so they Concord all in one in the bare naming of the Words. 1787 Grose Prov. Dict., Hob-nob (sometimes pronounced hab-nab), at a venture, rashly. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., We'n go at it hob-nob at a venture. |
3. hob or nob, hob a nob, hob and nob: (prob. = give or take, give and take) used by two persons drinking to each other. to drink hob or nob, hob a nob, to drink to each other alternately, to take wine with each other with clinking of glasses.
| 1756 Foote Eng. fr. Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 106 Then..they proceed to demolish the substantials, with, perhaps, an occasional interruption, of ‘Here's to you friends’, ‘Hob or nob’, ‘Your love and mine’. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. lviii, ‘Hob and nob, Doctor; which do you choose, white or red?’ 1772 Graves Spir. Quix. viii. xxi. (1808) 366 Having drank hob-or-nob with a young lady in whose eyes he wished to appear a man of consequence. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 213 With whig or with tory he'll drink hob a nob. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. v, ‘Have another glass!’ ‘With you. Hob and nob’, returned the sergeant. ‘The top of mine to the foot of yours—the foot of yours to the top of mine—Ring once, ring twice—the best tune on the Musical Glasses! Your health’. |
b. quasi-adj. On intimate terms of good-fellowship, in close companionship.
| 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xv. 149 In those very good..old times, hob and nob with the housebreaker. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. xlvi, I might be hob-and-nob with you now in your dungeon. 1871 Daily News 17 Nov., To make things pleasant..after a pleasant yet practical hob-and-nob fashion. |
▪ II. ˈhob-nob, v.
[At first hob or nob, hob-a-nob, hob and nob, hob-and-nob (one or both vbs. inflected), from the adv. phrase: see prec. 3.]
1. intr. To drink to each other, drink together.
| α 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 117 Do I go to hob or nob in white-wine, I am probably told red, is better for my nerves. 1794 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Acad. Process. Wks. 1812 III. 278 Deserts, for common serving-men, the room, And hobs or nobs with Ladies of the Broom. 1801 M. G. Lewis Tales Wond., Giles Jollup i, A Doctor so prim and a sempstress so tight Hob-a-nobb'd in some right marasquin. 1805 Sporting Mag. XXVI. 148 Watch the eye of him who wishes to hob or nob. 1823 W. H. Pyne Wine & Walnuts (1824) II. x. 163 ‘Here's my hearty service to you, and let us hob and nob.’ 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1869) 12 We hobbed and nobbed with..the celebrated bailiff of Chancery Lane. 1840 ― Catherine viii, The gallant Turpin might have hob-and-nobbed with Mrs. C. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal I. vii. 201, I will hob and nob with her over one glass of toddy. |
| β 1828 Craven Dial. s.v., 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 hob-nob. 1831 J. Jekyll Corr. 27 Jan. (1894) 267 At a supper he hobnobbed with Lady Dudley Stuart. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., Nell Cook Moral, Don't..Hob-nob in Sack and Malvoisie. 1862 Sala Acc. Addr. 112 [She] insisted on the Captain hobnobbing with her. |
2. To hold familiar intercourse, be on familiar terms with.
| α 1828 Lady Granville Lett. Mar. (1894) II. 17 It cannot be her interest to hob-and-nob with Lord Fitzwilliam. 1844 Thackeray Little Trav. ii, An honest groom jokes and hobs-and nobs..with the Kitchen maids. 1882 Jessopp Arcady iii. (1887) 66 What a curious joy..to hob-a-nob for a season with the pigmies of the Meiocene. 1893 Vizetelly Glances Back I. xvi. 303 The chairman..hobbed and nobbed unreservedly with his immediate neighbours. |
| β 1866 Sat. Rev. 20 Jan. 86/1 Looking at the maid Clara, I found that she had seated herself at the table, and was prepared to hobnob it with me. 1871 Dixon Tower III. xviii. 191 Eliot, now hob-nobbing with the pirate in pretended friendship. 1879 G. Macdonald P. Faber III. iii. 38 He..hob-nobbed with Death and Corruption. |
Hence ˌhob-ˈnobbing vbl. n.; also ˈhob-ˌnobber, one who hob-nobs; ˈhob-ˌnobby a., characterized by or characteristic of hob-nobbing or familiar intercourse.
| α 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Sorrows Sunday Wks. 1812 III. 370 May have her tea and rolls and hob and nobbing. 1812 Examiner 25 May 328/2 The joyous hobbing-a-nob of the lovers. 1830 Westm. Rev. XIII. 147 A little pleasant hobbing and nobbing. 1865 G. Meredith R. Fleming xxix. (1889) 244 The honour of hob-anobbing with a gentleman. |
| β 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVII. 63 Young ladies..often left the solitary glass of wine which they took with the gentlemen hob-nobber half unfinished. 1853 W. Jerdan Autobiog. IV. xiii. 232 The toast was drunk with acclamation, and then followed hob-nobbing. 1888 E. M. Marsh Saved as by Fire viii, Diffusing a genial, hobnobby expression over the severest countenance. 1895 M. M. Dowie Gallia xi. 123 Upon an omnibus, too, that very hob-nobby and familiar vehicle. |
▪ III. ˈhob-nob, n.
[f. as prec. As a n. more usual in the condensed form.]
† 1. A ‘sentiment’ or phrase used in hob-nobbing.
| 1761 (title) The Masque: a new and select collection of the best English, Scotch, and Irish Songs..To which is added a complete collection of the various Toasts, Sentiments, and Hob-Nobs. 1770 (title) Toasts, Sentiments, Hob-nobs and Songs: The Company Keeper's Assistant. |
2. A drinking to each other or together.
| α 1834 L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 71 At the end of the repast, a general ‘choque’, or hob-or-nob took place. 1888 J. Ramsay Scotl. 18th Cent. II. viii. 132 When hob or nob was first introduced, on a young gentleman calling for wine a second time during dinner, George whispered him, ‘Sir, you have had a glass already’. |
| β 1825 Fosbrooke Encycl. Antiq. 537 Pril and wril was an ancient form of hob nob. |
3. A familiar conversation; a tête-à-tête.
| 1876 Black Madcap V. xviii, Sitting on a fence, having a quiet hobnob among themselves. |