any of various kinds of four-wheeled vehicles designed to be pulled or having its own motor and ranging from a child's toy to a commercial vehicle for the transport of heavy loads, delivery, etc.
Informal. station wagon.
a police van for transporting prisoners; patrol wagon.
The fight broke up before the wagon arrived.
(initial capital letter) Charles's Wain.
British. a railway freight car or flatcar.
Archaic. a chariot.
hitch one's wagon to a star, to have a high ambition, ideal, or purpose.
It is better to hitch one's wagon to a star than to wander aimlessly through life.
fix someone's wagon, to get even with or punish someone.
He'd better mind his own business or I'll really fix his wagon.
on the wagon, abstaining from a current or former bad habit, as smoking, overeating, excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages, or taking drugs: Also on the water wagon; on the water cart.
She's been on the wagon for a month, now, so please don't offer her a drink.
off the / one's wagon,
again drinking alcoholic beverages after a period of abstinence.
His failure to show up at work is one more sign that he’s fallen off the wagon again.
returning to an unhealthy or bad habit.
I’m usually on a diet, but sometimes I go off my wagon.
circle the wagons. circle.
any of various types of wheeled vehicles, ranging from carts to lorries, esp a vehicle with four wheels drawn by a horse, tractor, etc, and used for carrying crops, heavy loads, etc
a railway freight truck, esp an open one
a child's four-wheeled cart
a police van for transporting prisoners and those arrested
See station wagon
an obsolete word for chariot
informal no longer abstaining from alcoholic drinks
informal abstaining from alcoholic drinks
First recorded in 1505–15; from Dutch wagen; cognate with Old English wægn “farm wagon”; see wain
Anything can be a wagon, so long as it has wheels and can be pulled. Wagons are used for transporting goods, like grains from a farm, or your little sister who wants another ride around the block. The origin of wagon is the German weg, meaning “move, carry.” You’ll see horse-drawn wagons carrying vegetables, or a wagon pulled by a tractor moving bales of hay into a barn. A paddywagon is slang for a police van that brings suspected criminals to the station. If you “fall off the wagon” that means you started drinking alcohol again after being sober for a while. And when you “hitch your wagon to a star,” you pursue a major goal.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a Valentine’s Day quiz Chelsea posted in 2022 on Facebook, she said they met at the ranch rodeo after the chuck wagon races and went for pizza on their first date.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
When can I get my hands on the Genesis G90 Wingback, a drop-dead gorgeous performance wagon unveiled in concept form last December?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
In February 2024, he sued OpenAI and its boss Sam Altman, saying the firm he helped found had reneged on its non-profit, open source origins by hitching its wagon to Microsoft.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
A Mercedes-Benz station wagon that was about 11 years old when I got my hands on it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
Harsh, bellowing shouts, snorting, baying animals… wagon wheels rattling, whip cracks, and a bugler’s call and marching feet.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Bicentennial Wagon Train made a yearlong journey across the U.S., tracing old covered-wagon trails and arriving in Valley Forge, Pa., on July 4.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
But his most transformative endeavour came in 1953 with the launch of Band Wagon.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
The Welcome Wagon rolled on to goaltender Joey Daccord, but he’d already hit the ice for practice.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2023
The Bunnie fire ignited around 11:20 a.m. in the unincorporated community of Ramona, near San Vicente and Chuck Wagon roads, reaching 10 acres by noon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2023
“But this is a button from the tunic of a Wagon Lit attendant!”
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
In 1916, when the 36-inch pipeline was dropped into the ground along Sunset Boulevard, cars were just beginning to compete with trolleys and horse-drawn wagons in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
The corridor's economics would improve if trains could be lengthened from around 15 wagons to 25 and potentially to 50, but that depends on track condition and infrastructure.
From Barron's ● May 7, 2026
And so the tents began to come down, and the suitcases, shopping carts, wagons, bicycles, etc., began to fill up.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2026
How a new backline comes together and how the squad circle the wagons for a testing trip to Rome will be intriguing to see.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
When trucks began to replace horses and wagons, he scoffed at the idea, labeling the trucks as a mere fad that would never last.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
