Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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prep_phrase
Abstaining from drinking any alcoholic drink, usually in the sense of having given it up (as opposed to never having partaken); teetotal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: teetotal
Antonyms: off the wagon
prep_phrase
Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prep_phrase
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, the, wagon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Originally on the water wagon or on the water cart, referring to carts used to hose down dusty roads: see the 1901 quotation below. The suggestion is that a person who is “on the wagon” is drinking water rather than alcoholic beverages. The term may have been used by the early 20th-century temperance movement in the United States; for instance, William Hamilton Anderson (1874 – c. 1959), the superintendent of the New York Anti-Saloon League, is said to have made the following remark about Prohibition: “Be a good sport about it. No more falling off the water wagon. Uncle Sam will help you keep your pledge.”
Across languages
6 source translations are retained for this English entry.
