off the wagon en · ADP
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
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.”
Meanings
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(idiomatic) No longer maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from an undesirable habit, especially drinking alcohol.
He is off the wagon again.
She kept up her diet for an entire month before falling off the wagon.
Antonyms
Relateds
wikipedia: Michael Quinion · wikipedia: New York Anti-Saloon League · wikipedia: William Hamilton Anderson · wikipedia: temperance movement in the United States