rub elbows

Related to rub elbows: let up

rub elbows

To interact or mingle with a person or group. I don't want to go to the gala tonight, but my wife is eager to rub elbows with the upper class. I've been rubbing elbows all night, and now I'd like to just have some quiet time.
See also: elbow, rub
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

rub elbows (with someone)

 and rub shoulders with someone
Fig. to associate with someone; to work closely with someone. (No physical contact is involved.) I don't care to rub elbows with someone who acts like that! I rub shoulders with John at work. We are good friends.
See also: elbow, rub
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

rub

elbows/shoulders
To mix or socialize closely: diplomats rubbing elbows with heads of state.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • rub elbows with
  • rub elbows with (someone)
  • rub elbows with someone
  • rub
  • rub shoulders
  • rub shoulders with (someone)
  • rub up
  • rub elbows with, to
  • rub nose in it
  • rub (one's) nose in it
References in periodicals archive
CHARLES BUSCH, AL PACINO, JANE FONDA, Gina Gershon, Jason Priestley--the Sundance Film Festival is the place to rub elbows with gay and gay-friendly stars.
Queer year at Sundance. (the Buzz)
"For 11 days, you can see great movies, interact with talented filmmakers, rub elbows with Hollywood celebrities, and party, party, party," says Ron Henderson, the rambunctious executive director of the Denver Film Society, which puts on the event.
Celebrate cinema. (Tips & Trips: The Rockies in October)
Their recent trip to Detroit enabled Marining and Keast to rub elbows with car designers, parts manufacturers, suppliers and technical staff from all over the world to study what products companies are testing how these components perform.
City marketing frigid temperatures, ice, snow
Tokyo Notes is set in the visitors' lounge of an art museum in Japan, a place where strangers and acquaintances rub elbows. In Hirata's hands, this space becomes an oasis of calm in a violent cosmos.
Sounds and Silence
And those of us who won't be jetting in to rub elbows with the art-world grandees can be consoled: When it comes to the masters of less, less may still be more.
The There There
Don't forget to party hardy, too--this is an opportunity to rub elbows and socialize with your peers, Michel adds.
Hit the Bull's-Eye
The main difference is basically prestige, as the kitchen is shared, but the walls are there so the big shots don't have to rub elbows with the lower echelons of the staff.
Executive sweet
The annual spectacle also allowed Akhuetie to rub elbows with rivals on the court, as he played alongside Arellano's Jiovani Jalalon and got mentored by San Beda's head coach Jamike Jarin.
Akhuetie relishes playing alongside rival coach, players
The most difficult because if you aim to rub elbows with her challenge it becomes excitingly and depressingly difficult to know what you are doing.
Gertrude Stein: Writings, 1932-1946
Now, of course, the art galleries rub elbows with the key-chain shops and the straight tourists gape openly at the parade of tattooed, hand-holding, ass-grabbing, platform-heel-wearing gay tourists.
Let's take over P-town
At these conferences, members make important career connections, participate in developmental seminars and rub elbows with the likes of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (as they did last year).
Meeting the changing needs of black MBAs