to rub shoulders
7
4.6
- phrasal verb
:
codearse
- In movies and TV shows, these journalists rub shoulders with those in high places and find themselves in dangerous situations.
I've seen you online not only sort of rubbing shoulders with stars like Shearer.
- I've seen you online not only sort of rubbing shoulders with stars like Shearer.
- And he said maybe he's not as talented as I thought he was if he's rubbing shoulders with us.
- We can work at rebuilding community and friendship, refocusing ourselves on the people that we rub shoulders with day by day.
- So he he is he he rubs shoulders with every, like, slip like Drake.
Examples
-
You could rub shoulders with movie stars walking along the boulevard.
-
Ahmed's donations have allowed him to rub shoulders with many of the most powerful people in the country.
Blog text (4) -
And I think that like, yeah, and you can rub shoulders with artists, but certainly.
-
So I get the opportunity to rub shoulders with all different kinds of people, different cash flows, different net worth.
-
And you rubbed shoulders with nothing but the best people.
Fiction book (2001) -
If that's not enough, you can rub shoulders or share a drink with them at many networking events and local conferences.
Blog text (17) -
What a meteoric flight: to rub shoulders with the best of the pros at such a tender age!
Fiction book (1993) -
In the last year they've rubbed shoulders with every kind of Spaniard.
-
We need to put down our journal pen, abandon the blinking cursor, and rub shoulders with people.
Academic text (2009) -
You could rub shoulders with movie stars walking along the boulevard.
Synonyms
64
3.1
Join and talk with other people at a meeting or party
20
7.7
To be friendly and spend time with people you should avoid, for example enemies
8
8.0
To spend time talking with important or powerful people
8
5.8
To meet and talk with important people at social events
5
7.9
To spend time talking with important or famous people
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
rub + shoulders
Literally 'rub' + 'shoulders' evokes physical contact and close bodily proximity, which can metaphorically extend to social mingling; however the specific sense 'to associate with important or famous people' is a pragmatic extension, not a direct compositional meaning. Because the connection relies on a figurative mapping from physical closeness to social contact (and while many languages use similar bodily-contact metaphors), the link is predictable only to a degree and may not be fully clear to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
The verb rub shoulders comes from the image of people standing so close at a party that their shoulders touch and they seem to rub each other. One popular story says this close picture became a way to say 'to associate or mix socially' with important or famous people.