| gen. |
shotgun marriage (An agreement or compromise made through necessity (see examples). 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.: Since neither side won a majority, the coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding. || The committee was created through a shotgun wedding between the community relations commission and the race relations board.) |
