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’.Definitions on the go
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hobnob