hobnob

1. (intransitive) To drink together.Examples: "Many a glass of wine have we all of us drank, I have very little doubt, hob-and-nobbing with the hospitable giver, and wondering how the deuce he paid for it."; "When the dinner was a little forward, and time for wine came, the Emperor fills his own cup—fills the Empress's—fills St. Martin [of Tours]'s,—affectionately hobnobs with St. Martin. […] St. Martin looks round, first, deliberately;—becomes aware of a tatterdemalion and thirsty-looking soul of a beggar at his chair side, who has managed to get his cup filled somehow, also—by a charitable lacquey. St. Martin turns his back on the Empress, and hobnobs with him!"intransitive

2. (intransitive, often derogatory) To associate with in a friendly manner, often with those of a higher class or status; to fraternize.Examples: "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."; "Here, over fiery "monaghahela," Jean Batiste, the sallow half-breed voyageur from the north—and who, deserting the service of the "North West" (the Hudson's Bay Company), has come down the Mississippi, from the "Falls," to try the sweets and the liberty of "free" trapping—hobnobs with a stalwart leather-clad "boy," just returned from trapping on the waters of Grand River, on the western side the mountains, who interlards his mountain jargon with Spanish words picked up in Taos and California."derogatoryintransitiveoften

3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To have or have not; to give or take.Examples: "He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuate brall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment 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."intransitiveobsoleterare

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To toast one another by touching glasses.Examples: "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."intransitiveobsolete

1. (obsolete) At random; at a venture; hit and miss.Examples: "The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images."not-comparableobsolete