hobnob [E17th] In the 18th century drinkers would toast each other alternately with the words ‘hob or nob’ or ‘hob and nob’, probably meaning ‘give or take’ or ‘have or have not’, the apparent earlier meaning, probably based on hab and nab, the Middle English for ‘to have and not have’. Toasting each other in this way was ‘to drink hob or nob’, or, from the mid 18th century, simply to hobnob. The image of convivial companionship led to the sense ‘to be on familiar terms, to talk informally’, which during the 20th century also acquired negative associations of mixing socially with those felt to be of higher social status. It was the convivial connotations that probably persuaded McVitie’s to come up with the name HobNobs for their new biscuit in 1985.