on the wagon
8
8.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
sobrio
- After years of heavy drinking, he's finally on the wagon and focusing on his health.
- stay on the wagon
- back on the wagon
- go on the wagon
I have friends that are on the wagon, as they say, and I watch them watching trays go by, the trays going by.
- I have friends that are on the wagon, as they say, and I watch them watching trays go by, the trays going by.
- And that if you choose to, you know, to do, you know, get back on the wagon that there's, there's always a program there that that's, that can be helpful.
Examples
-
They were both on the wagon, drinking cranberry tea and talking about early marriages.
Fiction book (1990) -
He's back on the wagon, so let's clear out the minibar.
-
But you were on the wagon.
-
You promised to stay on the wagon.
-
Get back on the wagon.
-
Uh, I'm on the wagon, thank you.
-
Says he's on the wagon.
-
He's been on the wagon.
-
I would offer you a drink, but I understand... ...you're on the wagon.
-
I'm on the wagon.
Synonyms
Someone who does not drink alcohol
Antonyms
How Sober
- Informal
8
8.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
on + the + wagon
The meaning 'not drinking alcoholic beverages' cannot be derived from the literal constituents 'on' (locative) and 'wagon' (a cart); this is an idiomatic phrase (originally from 'on the water wagon') whose current sense is metaphorical and historically conditioned. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would likely infer a literal locative meaning and would need prior exposure to learn the abstinence sense, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
On the wagon comes from an old image of a water wagon that brought clean water through towns. One popular story says people who chose to drink water instead of alcohol were 'on the water wagon', so the phrase now means 'not drinking' alcohol.