Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Father.
  • adjective Of or for the general public; popular or popularized.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or specializing in popular music.
  • adjective Of or suggestive of pop art.
  • noun Popular music.
  • noun Pop art.
  • intransitive verb To make a short, sharp, explosive sound.
  • intransitive verb To burst open with a short, sharp, explosive sound.
  • intransitive verb To move quickly or unexpectedly; appear abruptly.
  • intransitive verb To open wide suddenly.
  • intransitive verb To have the eustachian tubes open suddenly, equalizing pressure on both sides of the eardrum in response to changes in atmospheric pressure, as in a descending airplane.
  • intransitive verb Baseball To hit a short high fly ball, especially one that can be caught by an infielder.
  • intransitive verb To shoot a firearm, such as a pistol.
  • intransitive verb To be exciting.
  • intransitive verb To be visually striking.
  • intransitive verb To cause to make a sharp bursting sound.
  • intransitive verb To cause to open with a sharp bursting sound.
  • intransitive verb To cause to explode with a sharp bursting sound.
  • intransitive verb To put or thrust suddenly or unexpectedly.
  • intransitive verb To discharge (a firearm).
  • intransitive verb To fire at; shoot.
  • intransitive verb To hit or strike.
  • intransitive verb Baseball To hit (a ball) high in the air but not far.
  • intransitive verb To release (a clutch) suddenly.
  • intransitive verb To take (drugs), especially orally.
  • intransitive verb To have (a drink).
  • intransitive verb Slang To take into legal custody; arrest.
  • noun A sudden sharp, explosive sound.
  • noun A shot with a firearm.
  • noun Baseball A pop fly.
  • adverb With a popping sound.
  • adverb Abruptly or unexpectedly.
  • idiom Slang (a pop) Apiece; each.
  • idiom (pop the question) To propose marriage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A smart explosive sound or small report like that made in drawing a cork from a bottle.
  • noun An effervescent beverage: so called from the sound made by the expulsion of the cork: as, ginger-pop.
  • noun A pistol.
  • To strike.
  • To smear (the face) with white lead or other cosmetics; powder (the face).
  • noun The time during which a reaction or pop safety-valve stays open.
  • To make a quick sudden explosive report.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for papa.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for popular.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English poppen, from pop, a blow, stroke, of imitative origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From papa or poppa

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Onomatopoeic – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From popular, by shortening.

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Examples

Comments

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  • the colors always pop on hgtv. they never standout, brighten, illuminate, enrich, add, nor enliven a room.

    May 31, 2008

  • a synonym for soda, generally used in the Midwestern US although also as far east as Buffalo, NY

    August 12, 2008

  • Pop vs. Soda Map

    September 11, 2008

  • Love it. Just as I thought--I'm squarely in the soda range.

    September 11, 2008

  • I am definitely a "soda" person, though I would be more likely to say "soft drink," I think; "pop" sounds quaint to me. But what I always found interesting was the use of "coke" to mean any non-alcoholic carbonated beverage in the South: "The only cokes they had were Sprite and 7-Up."

    September 11, 2008

  • Let me rephrase that: I fall (just barely) on the "soda" side of the isogloss. There. Somebody had to say it.

    September 11, 2008

  • See? Another perfectly good use of "isogloss"! :-D

    I imagine (and maybe skipvia can jump in here) that using "coke" as a generic term in the U.S. South probably comes from the fact that the Coca-Cola company is based in Atlanta, GA.

    September 11, 2008

  • Yes! Isogloss!

    September 11, 2008

  • *sigh* I don't have particularly fond memories of arguments over Coke v. soda or pop in Mississippi.

    Those are some hot isoglosses!

    (As an aside, did anyone else notice how completely effed up Alaska is on this map? Beezarre.)

    September 11, 2008

  • Soft drink forever! And down with the carbonated beverage!

    September 11, 2008

  • Nevada looks pretty weird, too.

    September 11, 2008

  • Also to pawn. As in 'pop goes the weasel'. Weasel is Cockney rhyming slang for coat (weasel and stoat). So, 'that's the way the money goes' and go and pawn your coat to raise some more money.

    September 13, 2008

  • Northern English use as soft drink as opposed to slightly dated word for lemonade or other tooth-rotting carbonate.

    Also a type of music, short for popular, obviously.

    Grandfather. Affectionately.

    March 12, 2009

  • Pop bottles pop-bottles

    In pop shops;

    The pop-bottles Pop bottles

    Poor Pop drops.

    When Pop drops pop-bottles,

    Pop-bottles plop!

    Pop-bottle-tops topple!

    Pop mops slop!

    Stop! Pop'll drop bottle!

    Stop, Pop, stop!

    When Pop bottles pop-bottles,

    Pop-bottles pop!

    - Morris Bishop, 'Song of the Pop-Bottlers'.

    April 12, 2009

  • "pop" is also a dialectic reference for soft drink or soda

    June 27, 2009

  • For some reason I'm the only one in my family who says "soda." How did that happen?

    Edit

    Oh I see! I was born in "pop" raised in "soda" (the only soda in Nebraska, by-the-by, and then moved back to "pop."

    September 26, 2009

  • Geographically related to the northern midwest U.S. but also very common in Canada. See pop vs. soda maps.

    January 6, 2012