wagon

UK: /ˈwægən/ US: /ˈwægən/ ,(wag′ən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

wag•on /ˈwægən/   n. [countable]

1. Transport a four-wheeled vehicle, esp. one for the movement or carrying of heavy loads.
2. Transport, Informal Terms station wagon.
3. British Terms a railway freight car or flatcar.

Idioms

4. Idioms, Slang Terms fix someone's wagon, [Informal.] to get even with or punish someone.
5. Idioms off the wagon, [Informal.] drinking alcoholic beverages again after a period of having abstained.
6. Idioms on the wagon, [Informal.] no longer drinking alcoholic beverages.

Also,[esp. Brit.,] ˈwag•gon. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

wag•on  (wag′ən), n. 

1. Transport any of various kinds of four-wheeled vehicles designed to be pulled or having its own motor and ranging from a child's toy to a commercial vehicle for the transport of heavy loads, delivery, etc.
2. Transport [Informal.] See station wagon. 
3. a police van for transporting prisoners;
   patrol wagon:
   The fight broke up before the wagon arrived.
4. Astronomy (cap.) Charles's Wain. See Big Dipper. 
5. British Terms a railway freight car or flatcar.
6. a baby carriage.
7. [Archaic.] a chariot.
8. American History circle the wagons. See circle (def. 21).
9. fix someone's wagon, [Slang.] to get even with or punish someone:
   He'd better mind his own business or I'll really fix his wagon.
10. hitch one's wagon to a star, to have a high ambition, ideal, or purpose:
    It is better to hitch one's wagon to a star than to wander aimlessly through life.
11. off the wagon, [Slang.] again drinking alcoholic beverages after a period of abstinence.
12. British Terms on the wagon, [Slang.] abstaining from alcoholic beverages. Also, on the water wagon*  on the water cart. 

v.t. 

13. to transport or convey by wagon.

v.i. 

14. to proceed or haul goods by wagon:
    It was strenuous to wagon up the hill.
    Also,[esp. Brit.,] waggon. 

• Dutch wagen; cognate with Old English wægn wain
• 1505–15

wag′on•less, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. cart, van, wain, truck, dray, lorry.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

wagon, waggon / ˈwæɡən/ noun

1. any of various types of wheeled vehicles, ranging from carts to lorries, esp a vehicle with four wheels drawn by a horse, tractor, etc, and used for carrying crops, heavy loads, etc
2. a railway freight truck, esp an open one
3. a child's four-wheeled cart
4. 
   See station wagon
5. an obsolete word for chariot
6. off the wagon ⇒ no longer abstaining from alcoholic drinks
7. on the wagon ⇒ abstaining from alcoholic drinks

Etymology: 16th Century: from Dutch wagen wain

ˈwagonless, ˈwaggonless adjective

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

wag•gon  (wag′ən), n., v.t., v.i. [Chiefly Brit.]

1. British Terms wagon.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

waggon / ˈwæɡən/ noun , verb

1. a variant spelling (esp Brit) of wagon