off the wagon
prep_phraseEtymology
Originally off the water wagon or off the water cart, referring to carts used to hose down dusty roads: see the 1901 quotation below. The suggestion is that a person who is “on the wagon” is drinking water rather than alcoholic beverages. The term may have been used by the early 20th-century temperance movement in the United States; for instance, William Hamilton Anderson (1874 – c. 1959), the superintendent of the New York Anti-Saloon League, is said to have made the following remark about Prohibition: “Be a good sport about it. No more falling off the water wagon. Uncle Sam will help you keep your pledge.”
Definitions
No longer maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from an undesirable…
No longer maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from an undesirable habit, especially drinking alcohol.
- She kept up her diet for an entire month before falling off the wagon.
- He is off the wagon again.
The neighborhood
- antonymon the wagon
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for off the wagon. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA