rub elbows

rub elbows

1. (idiomatic, usually followed by with) To associate closely; to socialize, consort, or mingle.
   • 1893, Stanley J Weyman, A Gentleman of France, ch. 2:

     [S]adness and poverty are never more intolerable than when hope and wealth rub elbows with them.

   • 1901, Charles W. Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition, ch. 9:

     It was distasteful enough to rub elbows with an illiterate and vulgar white man of no ancestry.

   • 1922, Zane Grey, The Day of the Beast, ch. 8:

     He just wanted to rub elbows with this throng of young people.

   • 2001 June 24, Jacob V. Lamar, "Look Away, Dixieland," Time:

     Cowboys in ten-gallon hats and snakeskin boots rub elbows with yuppies dressed for success.

• rub shoulders

• rub elbows at OneLook Dictionary Search