pop the question

present singular third person pops the question · participle present popping the question · participle past popped the question · past popped the question

1. idiomaticinformalTo propose marriage.

   70% of men welcome the idea of women's proposing marriage; 48% of women say they'd be willing to pop the question.

   2003 July 13, “He Says and She Says”, in Newsweek, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2025, retrieved 14 Feb 2014

   3 more examples

   I was not able to learn what particular ceremony was observed in forming the marriage contract, but am inclined to think that it must have been of a very simple nature. Perhaps the mere "popping the question", as it is termed with us, might have been followed by an immediate nuptial alliance.

   1846, Herman Melville, chapter 26, in Typee

   [A]t a pic-nic to Kenilworth, where we drank a good deal of champagne, I actually popped the question, and was accepted. In another month, Robert Stubbs, Esq., led to the altar, Leah, widow of the late Z. Manasseh, Esq., of St. Kitt's!

   1850, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 9, in Stubb's Calendar, or The Fatal Boots

   If ever I do pop the question, I shall do it on the spur of the moment. There'll be no preparation with me, nor yet any beating about the bush. "Would it suit your views, my dear, to be Mrs. Spooner?" that's about the long and the short of it.

   1874, Anthony Trollope, chapter 19, in Phineas Redux