English

Adjective

on the wagon ‎(not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Abstaining from drinking any alcoholic drink, usually in the sense of having given it up (as opposed to never having partaken); teetotal.
   • [1901, Alice Caldwell Hegan, “How Spring Came to the Cabbage Patch”, in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (Project Gutenberg; EBook #4377), New York, N.Y.: Published by the Century Co., De Vinne Press, published 26 July 2009 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 301653, archived from the original on 24 October 2015, page 124:

     I wanted to git him some whisky, but he shuck his head. 'I'm on the water-cart,' sez he.]

   • 1917 (first published 1918 March), Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Oakdale Affair”, in Blue Book Magazine (Project Gutenberg; EBook #363), Chicago, Ill.: Story-Press Corp., published 25 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 270523625, archived from the original on 30 March 2016; republished in The Oakdale Affair; The Rider, Tarzana, Calif.: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., 1937, OCLC 8951886:

     "Sit down, bo," invited Soup Face. "I guess you're a regular all right. Here, have a snifter?" and he pulled a flask from his side pocket, holding it toward The Oskaloosa Kid. / "Thank you, but;—er—I'm on the wagon, you know," declined the youth.

2. (by extension) Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.

   He’s been on the smoking cessation wagon for two weeks now.‎

Synonyms

• teetotal

Antonyms

• off the wagon; see also fall off the wagon

References

1. ↑ “On the wagon”, World Wide Words, Michael Quinion, created 18 July 1998, last updated 27 January 2006.
2. ↑ “on the wagon” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
3. ↑ Robert Hendrickson (1997) The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, rev. and exp. edition, New York, N.Y.: Facts On File, ISBN 978-0-8160-3266-2.