Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Hob Nob A corruption of hab nab, meaning "have or not have," hence hit or miss, at random; and, secondarily, give or take, whence also an open defiance. A similar construction to willy nilly. (Anglo-Saxon, habban, to have; nabban, not to have.) "The citizens in their rage shot habbe or nabbe [hit or miss] at random." - Holinshed: History of Ireland. "He writes of the weather hab nab [at random], and as the toy [fancy] takes him, chequers the year with foul and fair." - Quack Astrologer (1673). "He is a devil in private brawls ... hob nob is his word, give 't or take 't." - Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, iii. 4. "Not of Jack Straw, with his rebellious crew, That set king, realm and laws at hab or nab [defiance]." Sir J. Harington: Epigram, iv. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
hob nob | 11 |
hob nob restaurant | 4 |
hill hob nob | 3 |
border collies hob nob | 3 |
anyone hob nob | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: hobnob. | |
| Words within the letters "b-b-h-n-o-o" | |
-2 letters: boob, boon, hobo. | |
-3 letters: bob, boo, hob, hon, nob, noh, noo, oho, ooh. | |
-4 letters: bo, ho, no, oh, on. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-b-h-n-o-o" | |
+1 letter: hobnobs. | |
+3 letters: hobgoblin, hobnobbed, hobnobber. | |
+4 letters: hobgoblins, hobnobbers, hobnobbing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)48 4F 42 4E 4F 42 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001000 01001111 01000010 00100000 01001110 01001111 01000010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)H O B   N O B |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0048 004F 0042 004E 004F 0042 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4249362484936 |
| 1. Expressions: Internet 2. Anagrams 3. Orthography 4. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
