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to pop the cherry

to pop the cherry

9.9
To do something for the first time, often used informally about a person's first time having sex
  • idiom
  • Offensive
translation icon : probar por primera vez
  • He finally popped the cherry and tried sushi for the first time.

Examples

  • When you pop the cherry on a new project, there's always a learning curve.

  • She was excited to pop the cherry at her first art exhibition.

  • He finally got to pop the cherry by playing his new guitar at the concert.

  • Are you ready to pop the cherry on that new video game?

  • She was thrilled to pop the cherry and try snowboarding for the first time this winter.

  • He couldn't wait to pop the cherry on his new smartphone and explore all its features.

  • Finally, she decided to pop the cherry and attend her first music festival this summer.

Synonyms

to break the seal
vsto pop the cherry
8 5.1

Open a closed container or use it for the first time

is informal and vulgar usually referring to a first sexual experience

Antonyms

1.0

To do or say something again

Surface Forms

pop the cherry infinitive
popping the cherry present participle
pops the cherry third person singular
popped the cherry past participle

Morphology

pop + the + cherry

The idiomatic meaning (originally referring to first sexual experience, more broadly ‘do something for the first time’) is not transparently derivable from 'pop' (to burst) + 'cherry' (the fruit); the sexualized metaphor and colloquial usage are language- and culture-specific. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but has not seen the phrase before would not reliably infer this figurative meaning, so it is non-compositional and opaque.

Etymology

Pop the cherry comes from a rude image about a person's first sexual experience: people used cherry to mean virginity and pop to mean breaking it. That's why it now often means 'to do something for the first time', though it is informal and can be rude.