Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to stay on the wagon

to stay on the wagon

1 8.1
To not drink alcohol after a period of drinking
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : mantenerse sobrio
  • After struggling with alcohol for years, he finally decided to stay on the wagon and focus on his health.

Examples

  • A recent blog post by one of my closest friends (and a talented blogger if he would only stay on the wagon).

    Blog text (11)

  • She found it challenging to stay on the wagon during social events where everyone else was drinking.

  • You promised to stay on the wagon.

    Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

  • These guys don't stay on the wagon for long.

    The Life of David Gale (2003)

  • I haven't had a drink in a month, by the way, and I want to try to stay on the wagon.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • One of the movies I'm really looking forward to this year is Smashed, the tale of a semi-functioning alcoholic who struggles to stay on the wagon while his spouse continues to party and be entirely unsupportive.

    Blog text (14)

  • To improve his life, Mark made a commitment to stay on the wagon and avoid alcohol completely.

Synonyms

on the wagon
vsto stay on the wagon
  • Informal
8 8.2

Not drinking alcohol after a period of heavy drinking

is about continuing abstinence after a period of drinking
teetotaling
vsto stay on the wagon
  • US
1 7.7

Not drinking alcohol at all

focuses on staying abstinent after prior drinking rather than lifelong practice
teetotal
vsto stay on the wagon
7.4

Someone who does not drink alcohol

emphasizes maintaining abstinence after drinking episodes rather than a general lifelong choice

Antonyms

drink
225 6.6

A habit of often having too much alcohol

relapse
33 6.5

A return to being ill or to a bad habit after getting better

How Sober

to stay on the wagon
  • Informal
1 8.1
to sober up
33 4.6
to cut down
65 2.7

Surface Forms

stay on the wagon infinitive
stayed on the wagon past
stayed on the wagon past participle
staying on the wagon present participle
stays on the wagon third person singular

Morphology

stay + on + the + wagon

The meaning 'abstain from drinking' is an idiomatic sense of 'on the wagon' that cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'stay' (remain), 'on' (location), 'the', and 'wagon' (a vehicle). A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would read it literally as remaining on a vehicle; the alcoholic-abstinence meaning requires cultural/lexicalized knowledge. Therefore the expression is unpredictable from its parts and is opaque to learners.

Etymology

Stay on the wagon comes from a popular story about old water wagons: towns used a wagon to carry water, and people who chose water instead of alcohol were said to be on the wagon. So stay on the wagon means 'to avoid drinking alcohol'.