wagon
/ˈwæɡən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.90 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A heavier four-wheeled (normally horse-drawn) vehicle designed to carry goods (or sometimes people).
noun
Abbreviation 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.
noun
Ellipsis of dinner wagon (“set of light shelves mounted on castors so that it can be pushed around a dining room and used for serving”).
noun
Ellipsis of station wagon (“type of automobile”); (occasionally, loosely) any car, van, or light truck.
Australian usage; Canadian usage; American usage; Informal
Example Sentences
- "These wagons and pack-mules will include transportation for all personal baggage, mess chests, cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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'."
- "[…] [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."
- "In all placs and ages children have played with things, some found by children, some fabricated by them, and some provided by parents or other adults. Today these might include a just-emptied rolled-oats carton salvaged from the kitchen, a knocked together wooden wagon set on cast-off baby buggy wheels, or a gaudy heavy plastic gm set of Chinese manufacture."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *weǵʰ-, *wagan, *wagn, *wagnaz
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwæɡən/
- British English: /ˈwæɡən/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
railroad car
car
railway wagon
railway carriage
carriage
railtruck
truck
coach
estate
NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise.
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