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hob·nob (hŏbnŏb)
Share:
intr.v. hob·nobbed, hob·nob·bing, hob·nobs
To associate familiarly: hobnobs with the executives.

[Earlier hob-or-nob, hob-nob, to toast or drink to each other alternately, drink together, from hob or nob, hob a nob, hob nob, give or take, hit or miss, however it may turn out (spoken as a toast when clinking glasses), alteration of obsolete and dialectal hab nab (perhaps originally meaning "have or have not") : probably Middle English habbe, singular present subjunctive of Middle English haven, habben, to have; see HAVE + Middle English nabbe, have not, singular present subjunctive of nabben, not to have (from Old English nabban : ne, not; see ne in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + habban, to have; see HAVE).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.