Hob and Nob together. To drink as cronies, to clink glasses, to drink tête-à-têle. In the old English
houses there was a hob at each corner of the hearth for heating the beer, or holding what one wished to
keep hot. This was from the verb habban (to hold). The little round table set at the elbow was called a
nob; hence to hob-nob was to drink snugly and cosily in the chimney-corner, with the beer hobbed, and a
little nobtable set in the snuggery. (See Hob Nob.)