This week’s theme
Reduplicatives

This week’s words
razzle-dazzle
hobnob
artsy-fartsy
flimflam
lardy-dardy

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(HOB-nob)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To associate socially, especially with people of higher status.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the earlier phrase hobnob or hob-or-nob, used by two people to toast or drink to each other. It’s apparently from habnab meaning “give or take” or “hit or miss” from hab nab meaning “to have or have not”. Earliest documented use: 1761.

USAGE:

“I salivated at the mouth-watering prospect of hobnobbing with the big shots.”
Gideon Nkala; Surviving a Spinal Cord Injury; Mmegi (Gaborone, Botswana); Mar 14, 2011.

See more usage examples of hobnob in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: