Shakespeare gets credit for bringing "hob" and "nob" together in his comedy Twelfth Night. In the play, which is full of disguised characters and mistaken identities, a woman named Viola dresses up as a boy to take a job working for Duke Orsino. When Sir Andrew challenges the disguised Viola to a duel, Sir Toby Belch warns her, "Hob, nob is his word." Sir Toby meant that the challenger was basically saying "hit or miss." Shakespeare's "hobnob" is probably an alteration of the older word "habnab," which meant "to have or not have, however it may turn out."