English · Idiom Candidate

pop the question

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To ask someone to marry you

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đề nghị kết hôn với ai đó

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to burst out with a query

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

One of the few senior aides in the confidence of the couple admits it is unlikely Tim bent down on one knee to pop the question.

Back in the 1940s, though, it was taken a lot more seriously, so that actually getting to the point where you popped the question was a big commitment.’

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

to make an offer of marriage.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đề nghị kết hôn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “pop the question” mean?

To ask someone to marry you Literally: to burst out with a query

Is “pop the question” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.