rub elbows | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic,intransitive,chieflyUS)Usually followed bywith: toassociateclosely; toconsort,mingle, orsocialize.Synonyms:(one sense)hobnob,rub shoulders1823, James Hogg, “Peril First. Love.—Continued. Circle[IX]. Letter I.”, inThe Three Perils of Woman; or, Love, Leasing, and Jealousy.[…], volume II, London:Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,[…],→OCLC,pages260–261:[I]f any of the officers have but mentioned love to my wife, I'll challenge and fight such of them one by one; and if any of the common soldiers have so much asrubbed elbowswith her, I'll beat them like dogs from one end of the regiment to the other.1833June 22, “Theatricals”, inFigaro in London, volume II, number81, London:[…]W. Molineux,[…][for]W. Strange,[…],→OCLC,page100, column 1:We have in fact nothing to say against the worthy purveyor, further than that he is an intruder when herubs elbowswith the regular audience, and that the utmost personal contact to which he should aspire, is that which makes an ice, a jelly or some other delicacy, the disconnecting instrument between his own hand and that of a customer.1851,Thomas Carlyle, “Coleridge”, inThe Life of John Sterling, London:Chapman and Hall,[…],→OCLC, part I,page74:One right peal of concrete laughter at some convicted flesh-and-blood absurdity, one burst of noble indignation at some injustice or depravity,rubbing elbowswith us on this solid Earth, how strange would it have been in that Kantean haze-world, and how infinitely cheering amid its vacant air-castles and dim-melting ghosts and shadows!1893,Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The King of Navarre”, inA Gentleman of France[…], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.:Longmans, Green, and Co.[…],→OCLC,page27:[S]adness and poverty are never more intolerable than when hope and wealthrub elbowswith them.1901October,Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, “A White Man’s ‘Nigger’”, inThe Marrow of Tradition, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.:Houghton, Mifflin and Company[…],→OCLC,page87:It was distasteful enough torub elbowswith an illiterate and vulgar white man of no ancestry,—[…]1922, Zane Grey, chapter VIII, inThe Day of the Beast, New York, N.Y.; London:Harper & Brothers,→OCLC,page152:He just wanted torub elbowswith this throng of young people. This was the joy of life he had imagined he had missed while in France.2001June 24, Jacob V. Lamar, “Look Away, Dixieland”, inTime‎[1], New York, N.Y.:Time Inc.,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon16 April 2016:Cowboys in ten-gallon hats and snakeskin bootsrub elbowswith yuppies dressed for success.

Examples:

EN: But I find I can't do it and rub elbows with Janice.
ES: Pero me parece que no puedo hacerlo y codearme con Janice.
EN: One doesn't get the chance every day to rub elbows with gangsters.
ES: Es una oportunidad única para codearse con gánsters.
EN: Their ancestors refused to come on the Mayflower because they didn't want to rub elbows with tourists.
ES: Sus ancestros se negaron a embarcar en el Mayflower porque no querían codearse con turistas.
EN: Through it you will journey to Palm Beach... and rub elbows with the idle rich... and members of the international set.
ES: Éste los transportará a Palm Beach... donde se codearán con los ricos holgazanes... y los miembros del jet set internacional.
EN: The only dangers I battle here are boredom... and the company of a handful of our compatriots... with whom I must rub elbows.
ES: El único peligro a enfrentar es el aburrimiento... y la compañía de un puñado de nuestros compatriotas... con quien me cruzo a diario.
EN: Look, I don't rub elbows with HQ staff.
ES: Mira, no me codeo con el personal del cuartel general.
EN: - Pierce, you may have been swaddled in burlap... but a Winchester does not rub elbows with mattress buttons.
ES: - Estarás acostumbrado a la arpillera... pero un Winchester no se roza los codos con los botones del colchón.
EN: Politicians and poets... rub elbows with the cream of high society.
ES: Los polítícos y poetas juntos con la crema de la crema de la socíedad.
EN: Let him rub elbows with the whites. Learn the white man's language, how he does things.
ES: Le dejaré que se codee con los blancos, que aprenda su lenguaje, su modo de hacer las cosas.
EN: I'm honored that Gotham's finest turned out to rub elbows with this tired old beat cop.
ES: Es un honor que gente como ustedes haya venido a rendir homenaje a este viejo cansado.
EN: Get out, rub elbows...
ES: Salieran y se relacionaran más.
EN: You comin' to rub elbows with the King of Rock and Roll?
ES: ¿Vienes a codearte con el Rey del Rock and Roll?
EN: This is our chance to rub elbows... with Springfield's young, hip power couples.
ES: Vamos a codearnos con parejas jóvenes e influyentes de Springfield.
EN: I'm looking forward to watching you rub elbows with the grunts, finally getting your officer's hands dirty.
ES: Estoy deseando ver que rozan los codos con los gruñidos, finalmente tienes sucias tus manos de oficial.
EN: I don't like it any more than you do. These people fund our research and all they want in return is to rub elbows with a scientist once in a while.
ES: A mí tampoco me divierte, pero financian nuestras investigaciones y lo único que quieren es codearse con un científico de vez en cuando.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).