Wagon Meaning
/ˈwæɡən/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA heavier four-wheeled (normally horse-drawn) vehicle designed to carry goods (or sometimes people).
nounAbbreviation of toy wagon; A child's riding toy, with the same structure as a wagon (sense 1), pulled or steered by a long handle attached to the front.
Sentence Examples
Stop that, or I'll fix your wagon.
Then I'll help you overturn the wagon.
The farmer pitched the hay onto the wagon.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The pioneers loaded their supplies onto a wooden ____ for the long journey west.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The farmer used a large wooden ____ to transport several sacks of grain from the field to the local barn today.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle Dutch wagen, from Old Dutch *wagan, from Proto-West Germanic *wagn, from Proto-Germanic *wagnaz (“wagon”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to transport”). Generally displaced native cognate wain, from Old English wæġn, of which it is a doublet. Related also to way, weigh. Sense 8 (“woman of loose morals; obnoxious woman”) is probably a derogatory and jocular reference to a woman being “ridden”, that is, mounted for the purpose of sexual intercourse. The verb is derived from the noun.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"These wagons and pack-mules will include transportation for all personal baggage, mess chests, cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c."
— 1864 June 28, T. S. Bowers (Assistant Adjutant General), “No. 51. [Special Orders No. 44.]”, in Report of the Quartermaster General of the United States Army to the Secretary of War, for the Year Ending June 30, 1865, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1865, →OCLC, paragraph 6, page 189:
"The first waggon was loaded, and moved a few yards along the quay, and the second took its place. There was an order and swiftness over the work that told of a careful preparation. The third waggon took the place of the second and the work of loading it went even faster. Then, at a shout from the Grocer, the loaders threw off their slings, took every man of them a cudgel from beneath his smock, and formed themselves as a guard about the waggons that went away quickly along the quay on their way inland."
— 1922 February, H. Harrison, “Plot and Counterplot: A Tale of the Smuggling Canker in the Days Following the Battle of Waterloo”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XLV, part 4, London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 262, column 1:
"It was five miles or more from Maggot's lane to the Ferry. The hobbits wrapped themselves up, but their ears were strained for any sound above the creak of the wheels and the slow clop of the ponies' hoofs. The waggon seemed slower than a snail to Frodo."
— 1954, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Short Cut to Mushrooms”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC, page 105; republished Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, →ISBN:
"On the sixteenth-century farm all the heavy hauling of lime or marl for the fields, gravel for the lanes, timber for the fences and 'coals or other necessary fuel fetched far off' had to be done as far as possible in the summer while the roads were still dry and firm. […] About the end of October the prudent farmer, like Best of Elmswell near Driffield, laid up his waggon, and sent his corn to market during the winter months on a string of eight pack-horses, tied head to tail, with a couple of men to 'guide the pokes'."
— 1967, J. Crofts, “The Weather”, in Packhorse, Waggon and Post: Land Carriage and Communications under the Tudors and Stuarts (Studies in Social History), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, →ISBN; reprinted as Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, 2007, →ISBN, page 9:
"[…] [Debra] Van Ausdale transcribes an exchange among two white girls (both aged four) and one Asian girl (age three) who are playing with a wagon. One of the white girls is pulling the other children. When the wagon gets stuck the Asian girl jumps out to help pull. The white girl responds, "No, no. You can't pull this wagon. Only white Americans can pull this wagon." […] Here, a four-year-old is using a construction that joins race and perceptions of citizenship to exclude in her play."
— 2017, Jennifer Harvey, “From Color-blindness to Race-conscious Parenting”, in Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, →ISBN:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The pioneers loaded their supplies onto a wooden ____ for the long journey west.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The farmer used a large wooden ____ to transport several sacks of grain from the field to the local barn today.