on the wagon

Etymology
Originally on the water wagon or on 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 ; for instance, (1874 – ), the superintendent of the, 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.”

Prepositional phrase

 * 1)  Abstaining from drinking any alcoholic drink, usually in the sense of having given it up (as opposed to never having partaken); teetotal.
 * 2) * 1917 (first published 1918 March),, “”, in Blue Book Magazine (Project Gutenberg; EBook #363), Chicago, Ill.: Story-Press Corp., published 25 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), 270523625 , archived from the original on 30 March 2016; republished in The Oakdale Affair; The Rider, Tarzana, Calif.: , 1937,  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.
 * 1)  Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.
 * "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.
 * 1)  Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.
 * 1)  Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.
 * 1)  Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.
 * 1)  Maintaining a program of self-improvement or abstinence from some other undesirable habit.

Antonyms

 * ; see also

Translations

 * Danish: på vandvognen
 * French: au régime sec
 * German: trocken sein
 * Welsh: ar y wagen