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.
As conspicuously ill as many horses were, streetcar companies and wagon drivers had financial incentives to keep them working.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
A family once tried to sneak a pet parrot into the buffet, tucking it into a wagon next to their small child.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The trees were once a source of timber for floorboards as well as in cart wheels and wagon bottoms due to their wood being naturally springy.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
For the journey, he is driving a ’64 Chevy Impala station wagon with a GPS unit inside so that armchair travelers can follow his journey on the web.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
“It’s a pretty good wagon when it’s not in the ditch,” Dad said.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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
Between 1953 and 1968, Band Wagon helped build a thriving live music circuit, producing homegrown artistes such as Marie Sampson and Shirley Churcher, who would later find success in the West.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
They impounded Robins’ G Wagon, which according to CBS was found in a body shop with some damaged parts already swapped out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2025
The Welcome Wagon rolled on to goaltender Joey Daccord, but he’d already hit the ice for practice.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2023
He said it wasn’t what you’d call Welcome Wagon material.
From "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant
It would be easy to look at all of this — the card tables, homemade jingles, wagons stacked with brightly colored boxes — and see only an exceptionally cute American ritual.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
The locomotive was pulling the wagons from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, to Theale, near Reading, when the derailment occurred.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Lastly, a growing crowd of car enthusiasts is collecting vehicles that are remarkably normal—think Ford Tauruses, Honda Civics and Buick station wagons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Through drought and earthquake, and from horse-drawn wagons to driverless cars, they have delivered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Creatures of every sort zigzag, bolt, scream, swing, gallop, grunt, and whinny; they are everywhere, swinging on ropes and slithering up poles, hiding under wagons, pressed against sidewalls, and skidding across the center.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
