hobnob

noun

1. (obsolete)A toast made while touching glasses together.

   “With a hob-nob, and a merry go-round, / We'll pull in ere reason fail; / For the stoutest man in the kingdom found, / Must knock under to humming ale.”

   “A prologue of cherry bounce,—brandy,—preceded the entertainment, which was enlivened by hob-nobs and joyous toasts.”

2. A drinking together.
3. An informal chat.

   “The three friends had a hobnob outside the bar.”

   “The American people are largely under the influence of animal magnetism. Whether they are drawn to the levée of a Tom Thumb or to a hobnob with the Russians, the safety-valves of their joyous feelings are sure to be opened when the Stars and Stripes flaunt over their churches, public buildings, and private dwellings.”

   “[T]he musical and dramatic critiques in our daily papers are dishonest, shameful, utterly unworthy, and a scandal to journalism and Ireland! Praise is lavishly dispensed because the system pays, […] 'A full house' on Saturday will procure a longer advertisement on Monday morning, another 'free pass' all round, and a hobnob perhaps with Signor, Senora, Herr Bugle, Madame, or Madamoiselle.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To drink together.

   “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!”

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

   “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.”

   “Well, you know all about how we dine, and assume, as you may, that we never ate more heartily, hob[-]nobbed more cordially, or interchanged with more frankness and sincerity all the affectionate social amenities which flow from a community of feeling amongst men who are bound together by the great bond of intellectual citizenship, members of the great "mysteries" of knowledge.”

   “A man who never misused his time here; a Fellow of his Colleges, M.A., Lecturer, Don; […] my name, alas is not upon the board—my poverty, indeed, not will, prevented it, and so beneath his wing I dine at the "high table" with the reverend deans, and hobnob with professors.”

3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare)To have or have not; to give or take.

   “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.”

4. (intransitive, obsolete)To toast one another by touching glasses.

   “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.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)On friendly terms; in friendly association.

adv

1. (not-comparable, obsolete)At random; at a venture; hit and miss.

   “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.”