wagon

[ wag-uhn ]

/ ˈwæg ən /

noun

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) Astronomy. Charles's Wain.

British. a railway freight car or flatcar.

a baby carriage.

Archaic. a chariot.

verb (used with object)

to transport or convey by wagon.

verb (used without object)

to proceed or haul goods by wagon: It was strenuous to wagon up the hill.Also especially British, waggon.

Nearby words

wagner, robert ferdinand, wagner-jauregg, wagner-jauregg, julius, wagnerian, wagnerite, wagon, wagon boss, wagon master, wagon roof, wagon seat, wagon soldier

Idioms

circle the wagons. circle(def 23).

fix someone's wagon, Slang. to get even with or punish someone: He'd better mind his own business or I'll really fix his wagon.

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.

off the/one's wagon, Slang.

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.

on the wagon, Slang. abstaining from a current or former bad habit, as smoking, overeating, excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages, or taking drugs: She's been on the wagon for a month, now, so please don't offer her a drink.Also on the water wagon; British, on the water cart.

Origin of wagon

1505–15; < Dutch wagen; cognate with Old English wægn wain

SYNONYMS FOR wagon

1 cart, van, wain, truck, dray, lorry.

Related forms

wag·on·less, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for hitch your wagon to a star (1 of 2)

Wagon

Waggon

/ (ˈwæɡən) /

noun

the Wagon another name for the Plough

British Dictionary definitions for hitch your wagon to a star (2 of 2)

wagon

waggon

/ (ˈwæɡən) /

noun

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

British a railway freight truck, esp an open one

US and Canadian a child's four-wheeled cart

US and Canadian a police van for transporting prisoners and those arrested

mainly US and Canadian See station wagon

an obsolete word for chariot

off the wagon informal no longer abstaining from alcoholic drinks

on the wagon informal abstaining from alcoholic drinks

verb

(tr) to transport by wagon

Derived Forms

wagonless or waggonless, adjective

Word Origin for wagon

C16: from Dutch wagen wain

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Culture definitions for hitch your wagon to a star

Hitch your wagon to a star

Aim high; hope for great things. This advice appears in the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Idioms and Phrases with hitch your wagon to a star

wagon

see fix someone's wagon; hitch one's wagon; on the bandwagon; on the wagon.