rub shoulders

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

rub shoulders (third-person singular simple present rubs shoulders, present participle rubbing shoulders, simple past and past participle rubbed shoulders)

1. (idiomatic, usually followed by with) To associate closely; to socialize or mingle.
   • 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 1, in Memories and Portraits:

     All classes rub shoulders on the greasy benches.

   • 1894, Henry James, chapter 6, in The Death of the Lion:

     In this establishment, as everybody knows, on occasions when the crush is great, the animals rub shoulders freely with the spectators.

   • 1915, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 24, in The Lost Prince:

     [N]ow and then the two dress themselves roughly, like common men, and go out into the city to see what it's like to rub shoulders with the rest of the world.

   • 2010 March 10, Lori Ioannou, “Use Social Media to Build Your Brand”, in Time:

     It pays to network and rub shoulders virtually with potential customers on the Web.

Synonyms

• rub elbows

References

• “rub shoulders”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.