shotgun wedding
or shotgun marriage
noun
a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
Informal.
a compromise, merger, accord, etc., occasioned by necessity: The coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding.
Origin of shotgun wedding
An Americanism dating back to 1925–30
Words nearby shotgun wedding
shot-putter,
shot-silk retina,
shote,
shotgun,
shotgun microphone,
shotgun wedding,
shothole,
shott,
shotten,
shotting,
shottsuru
British Dictionary definitions for shotgun marriage
shotgun wedding
noun
informal
a wedding into which one or both partners are coerced, usually because the woman is pregnant
Idioms and Phrases with shotgun marriage
Shotgun wedding
An agreement or compromise made through necessity, as in Since neither side won a majority, the coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding. This expression alludes to a marriage precipitated by a woman's pregnancy, causing her father to point a literal or figurative gun at the responsible man's head. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.