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hobnob.

A toast made while touching glasses together.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhɒbnɒb/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɑbˌnɑb/General-American
  1. A toast made while touching glasses together.

    obsolete
  2. A drinking together.

  3. An informal chat.

    The three friends had a hobnob outside the bar.
Where this word comes from

From hob and nob, hob or nob (“a phrase spoken when making a toast, possibly meaning ‘give and take’; to take turns toasting or buying rounds of drinks”) (archaic), from dialectal hab nab (“to have or have not, in the sense of an invitation to have a drink”), from Old English habban (“to have, possess”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize”)) + nabban (“to not have”) (from ne (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *né (“not”)) + habban).

verb/ˈhɒbnɒb/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɑbˌnɑb/General-American
  1. To drink together.

    intransitive
  2. To associate with in a friendly manner, often with those of a higher class or status; to fraternize.

    derogatory · intransitive · often
    The ambitious young student hobnobbed with the faculty at the prestigious college he hoped to attend.
    His favorite spot in the club was the bar, where he could hobnob with the big-wigs.
  3. To have or have not; to give or take.

    intransitive · obsolete · rare
  4. To toast one another by touching glasses.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From hob and nob, hob or nob (“a phrase spoken when making a toast, possibly meaning ‘give and take’; to take turns toasting or buying rounds of drinks”) (archaic), from dialectal hab nab (“to have or have not, in the sense of an invitation to have a drink”), from Old English habban (“to have, possess”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize”)) + nabban (“to not have”) (from ne (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *né (“not”)) + habban).

adj/ˈhɒbnɒb/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɑbˌnɑb/General-American
  1. On friendly terms; in friendly association.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From hob and nob, hob or nob (“a phrase spoken when making a toast, possibly meaning ‘give and take’; to take turns toasting or buying rounds of drinks”) (archaic), from dialectal hab nab (“to have or have not, in the sense of an invitation to have a drink”), from Old English habban (“to have, possess”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize”)) + nabban (“to not have”) (from ne (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *né (“not”)) + habban).

adv/ˈhɒbnɒb/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɑbˌnɑb/General-American
  1. At random; at a venture; hit and miss.

    not-comparable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From hob and nob, hob or nob (“a phrase spoken when making a toast, possibly meaning ‘give and take’; to take turns toasting or buying rounds of drinks”) (archaic), from dialectal hab nab (“to have or have not, in the sense of an invitation to have a drink”), from Old English habban (“to have, possess”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize”)) + nabban (“to not have”) (from ne (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *né (“not”)) + habban).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.