hurry-up wagon

9.3

A time when people rush to finish work before a deadline

noun

Informal

: urgencia

With the deadline looming, we had no choice but to hop on the hurry-up wagon.

Examples

Management wants everyone on the hurry-up wagon until the project is finished.
We need to get on the hurry-up wagon if we want to finish this project on time.
After weeks of procrastination, she finally jumped on the hurry-up wagon and completed her report.
Jump on the hurry-up wagon!
After weeks of procrastination, she finally jumped on the hurry-up wagon and completed her report.
With the deadline looming, we had no choice but to hop on the hurry-up wagon.
Management wants everyone on the hurry-up wagon until the project is finished.

Synonyms

hurry

vshurry-up wagon

∞ 1.0

A state of acting quickly that often causes mistakes

is an urgent approach to finishing tasks rather than just a feeling

haste

vshurry-up wagon

65 3.4

Very quick action that often causes mistakes

is a practical rapid approach to completing tasks rather than abstract speed

hurrying

vshurry-up wagon

1 1.1

Moving or acting quickly because there is little time

is a rapid approach to completing tasks rather than a single quick action

rushing

vshurry-up wagon

1.0

A quick, often careless movement that can cause mistakes

is a rapid approach that does not stress carelessness

hurriedness

vshurry-up wagon

5.6

A feeling of being in a hurry that makes you rush and make mistakes

is an urgent but not necessarily excessive approach to completing tasks

Antonyms

procrastination

21 4.8

Delaying tasks you should do until later

to take one's time

3.5

To do something slowly and carefully without hurrying

Surface Forms

hurry-up wagon singular

hurry-up wagons plural

Morphology

hurry-up + wagon

The element 'hurry-up' transparently signals urgency so a learner who knows 'hurry' and 'up' would infer quickness; however 'wagon' is being used metaphorically (akin to 'bandwagon'), so the combined sense 'an urgent push or tendency to hurry' requires a metaphorical mapping. Because part of the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents but the idiomatic use of 'wagon' is non-literal, the expression is only partially predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Hurry-up wagon may come from the image of a fast wagon that people jump onto to move quickly, with hurry-up showing speed. So, to hop on the hurry-up wagon means 'to join a quick, urgent push to finish something'.