on the wagon

Idioms  

1. Abstaining from drinking alcoholic beverages, as in Don't offer her wine; she's on the wagon. This expression is a shortening of on the water wagon, referring to the horse-drawn water car once used to spray dirt roads to keep down the dust. Its present meaning dates from about 1900. The antonym off the wagon, used for a resumption of drinking, dates from the same period. B.J. Taylor used it in Extra Dry (1906): “It is better to have been on and off the wagon than never to have been on at all.”

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Example Sentences

I shielded my eyes against the sun as I greeted Mr. Wong, perched on the wagon seat, reins in hand.

From Literature

“That’s a happy tune,” Pa said as he tossed a pitchfork of hay up on the wagon, where I was waiting to spread it out.

From Literature

From up there on the wagon, if you looked a certain way, the two houses on the hill appeared to be a pair of eyes staring out from under a mop of red hair.

From Literature

People get all mad at us, but if you’re going to jump on the wagon for three weeks, which is what 90% of the population does, we’re not the place for you.

From The Wall Street Journal

Watermelons were piled up on the wagon.

From BBC