Wagon, waggon sb.

Forms: 6 wagan(e, waghen, wagen, 6–7 waggen, 7 waggin, 6– waggon, wagon. [Early mod.E. wagan, waghen, a. Du. wagen (formerly also written waghen) = OE. wæʓn WAIN.

  In Du. (as in Ger.) wagen has always been the most general term for a wheeled vehicle; in the 16th c. it was adopted into Eng. in this wide sense (see 2 below) as well as in the specific military application (sense 1) learned in the continental wars.

  The Eng. dicts of the 18th c. have the spelling waggon, exc. Johnson, who gives wagon without remark, though all his examples have waggon. Todd, 1818, prefers wagon for etymological reasons, but says that waggon is the prevailing form. Webster, 1828, gives wagon, remarking that ‘the old orthography, waggon, seems to be falling into disuse.’ Smart, 1836, gives waggon as the current form, and wagon as ‘a disused spelling.’ Stormonth, 1884, and Cassell, 1888, have waggon, wagon; later dicts. wagon either alone or in the first place. In Great Britain waggon is still very commonly used; in the U.S. it is rare.

  The Eng. word has been adopted in Fr. as wagon, vagon in the sense of ‘railway coach or carriage,’ a meaning that is now obsolete in Eng. (see quot. 1847 in sense 5 b). So also G. waggon (pronounced as Fr.).]

  1.  A strong four-wheeled vehicle designed for the transport of heavy goods. In Mil. use chiefly with qualifying word, as ambulance, ammunition, bread, forge wagon etc., for which see those words.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), I. lxii. 84. And whan these lordes sawe none other remedy, they trussed all their harnes in waganes [Fr. en voictures], and retourned to the hoost before Tourney.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 46 b. The Flemmynges … made purviaunce for wagans, vitaile and other thynges.

1570.  Dee, Math. Pref., d j. As, the force which one man hath with the Duche waghen Racke: therwith to set vp agayne, a mighty waghen laden, being ouerthrowne.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, VII. lvi. I. 188. The Phrygians invented first the waggon and charriot with foure wheeles [L. vehiculum cum quatuor rotis].

1611.  Bible, Gen. xlv. 19. Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wiues.

1653.  Holcroft, Procopius, Goth. Wars, I. 4. Theodoricus … went into Italy with all the Goths, putting their Wives and Children in Waggons, and all the Goods they could carry.

1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 439. The barren plaines Of Sericana, where Chineses drive With Sails and Wind thir canie Waggons light. Ibid. (1671), P. R., III. 336. And Waggons fraught with Utensils of war.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 317. Thy well-breath’d Horse … bred to Belgian Waggons.

1727.  De Foe, Eng. Tradesm. (1841), II. xlvi. 173. From those barges they [the coals] are loaded into carts and wagons, to be carried to the respective country towns.

1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xv. The numerous waggons that accompanied them contained the rich spoils of the enemy.

1810.  Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1838), VI. 302. I shall endeavor to send you some spring and commissariat waggons.

1837.  W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, I. 75. They [the Indians] had dogged it [Captain Bonneville’s party] for a time in secret, astonished at the long train of waggons and oxen.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., I. i. 2. The waggons of a trader generally contain every requisite for a farmer’s establishment.

  b.  transf. The constellation CHARLES’S WAIN.

  Quot. c. 1511 is from a work translated into English by a Fleming, and contains many Flemish words. The quot. therefore does not prove the existence of the word in Eng. at the date of the book.

[c. 1511.  1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. 28/1. The northe sayle sterre or pollumarticum, or the waghen called.]

1867.  Chamb. Encycl., s.v. Ursa major, The common names throughout Europe for these seven stars are ‘the Plough,’ ‘Charles’s Wain,’ ‘the Wagon.’

1889.  N. W. Linc. Gloss., Waggon and Horses. Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

  † 2.  A carriage of any kind for the conveyance of persons, their luggage, etc. Obs.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 157 b. Speusippus beeyng ympotente … was carryed in a wagen [L. vehiculo] towarde the schoole called Academia.

1555–6.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. II. 253. One Wagon of tymbre work for Ladies and Gentlewomen of our Prevye Chamber.

1582.  in T. Phillips, Hist. & Antiq. Shrewsb. (1779), 46. This yeare 1582,… the right honorable Lady Mary Sidney came to thys towne of Salop, in her wagon.

1617.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Trav. Lond. to Hamburgh, Wks. (1630), III. 88/1. I appointed a Waggon ouer night to bee ready by three of the Clocke in the morning.

  † b.  A war-chariot; = CHARIOT 1 c. Obs.

1591.  Savile, Tacitus, Agricola, 244. Some cuntreyes make warre in wagons also [L. quædam nationes et curru præliantur].

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 30. Their fight is … with wagons and chariots [L. bigis et curribus].

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, IV. ii. § 20 II. 206. He … sends his Brother Hagis with … a hundred armed waggons to entertaine him. Each waggon had in it foure to fight, and two to guide it.

  † c.  poet. = CAR sb. 1 b, CHARIOT sb. 1 b. Obs.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 118. And two stately lyons this fine dams gilt wagon haled.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., V. ii. 51. Prouide thee two proper Palfries, as blacke as Iet, To hale thy vengefull Waggon swift away.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 28. Then to her yron wagon she betakes. Ibid., I. v. 44. Whilst Phœbus pure In westerne waues his wearie wagon did recure.

c. 1620.  Z. Boyd, Zion’s Flowers (1855), 111. The sunne in wagon makes th’ horizon cleare.

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 61. The Poët stepping with Phaëton upon the waggon hath noted [etc.].

  3.  An open four-wheeled vehicle built for carrying hay, corn, etc., consisting of a long body furnished with ‘shelboards.’

  (In the 16th c. app. distinguished from wain.)

1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 35. Horse, Oxen, plough, tumbrel, cart, waggon, & waine.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 13. There stands my Heybarne, which hath in the vpper roomes my Hey, and beneath, Waynes, Cartes, Carres, Waggons, Coaches, [etc.].

1600.  in W. F. Shaw, Mem. Eastry (1870), 226. One wagon and wagon harnesse three plowes [etc.].

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 244. The tow’ring height Of Waggons, and the Cart’s unweildy weight.

1789.  W. H. Marshall, Glouc., I. 57. The Glocestershire waggon is, beyond all argument, the best farm-waggon I have seen in the kingdom…. The wheels run six inches wider than those of the Yorkshire waggon.

1803.  Jane Porter, Thaddeus, ii. (1831), 16. Concealing their arms in waggons of hay.

1862.  J. C. Morton, Farmer’s Cal. (ed. 2), 415. The carrying of our grain crops … is done differently in different districts. In the South the use of the two and three horse waggon is almost universal.

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., vi. 115. A waggon … is the pride of the craftsman who builds it, and who is careful to reproduce the exact ‘lines’ which he learned from his master as an apprentice.

  4.  A covered vehicle for the regular conveyance of commodities and passengers by road. (? Now only colonial.)

  See also POST-WAGON (1677–), stage-wagon (1761–), s.v. STAGE sb. 13.

1615.  Stow, Ann., 867/2. In the yeere 1564 Guylliam Boonen, a dutchman,… brought the vse of Coaches into England…. And about that time, began long wagons to come in vse, such as now come to London, from Canterbury, Norwich, Ipswich, Glocester, &c. with Passengers, and commodities.

1641.  Evelyn, Diary, 10 Sept. I took waggon for Dort. Ibid., 10 Oct. I went by wagon … to Dynkirk.

1660.  Sir W. Dugdale, Diary, 13 March, in Archæologia, XX. 471. My dau. Lettice went towards London in Coventre Waggon.

1776.  Mrs. P. L. Powys, Passages fr. Diaries (1899), 157. The two London waggons came in with sixteen and fourteen horses.

1776.  Pennsylvania Even. Post, 16 July, 354/1. A number of Waggons with Teams are wanted for the public service immediately.

1824.  Barnewall & Cresswell, Rep. K. B., II. 717. The following evidence … was then set out; that defendant was a common carrier, and that his waggon stopped in the parish of Elden.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, V. xxxvi. She heard the rumbling of heavy wheels behind her; a covered waggon was coming, creeping slowly along.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xvi. An express waggon with a driving seat. Ibid. He is like to turn back … if he journeys with us in the waggon.

  5.  a. Mining. A truck used to convey minerals along the roadways of a mine, or from the mine to the place of shipment. (See also quot. 1886.)

1649.  [W. Grey], Chorographia, 25. Waggons with one Horse to carry down Coales, from the Pits, to the Stathes, to the River, &c.

1727.  De Foe, Eng. Tradesm. (1841). II. xlvi. 173. [The coals] are then loaded into a great machine called a wagon; which … goes … to the nearest river or water carriage.

1860.  Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 51. Chaldron 53 cwt. The waggons which convey the coals from the pit to the place of shipment carry the above quantity, and are called chaldron waggons.

1867.  W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 148. Certain requirements, in connection with the raising of the mineral in the shafts … necessitate the use of particular kinds of waggon.

1886.  J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 70. Waggon, a measure of weight equal to 24 cwt. Coal sold for delivery in carts is usually sold by the waggon of 24 cwt.

  b.  An open truck or a closed van for the transport of goods on a railway. † Formerly applied also to the open carriages used for conveying passengers at the lowest fares, and as the general term for any kind of railway vehicle.

1756.  Abiah Darby, Diary, 31 Jan., in Jrnl. Friends’ Hist. Soc. (1913), X. 83. First Waggon of Pigs [sc. of iron] came down the Railway [in Coalbrookdale].

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 657. The weight of the engine and 16 waggons is equal to 154,560 lbs.

1840.  F. Whishaw, Railw. Gt. Brit. & Irel., 493. The ordinary train would consist of two wagons, or trucks, of merchandise, &c. placed next to the engine, then the passenger-wagon [3rd class], and lastly the passenger-carriage.

1847.  S. C. Brees, Railw. Pract., 4th Ser. i. 1. The name of wagon is given to vehicles of every description employed on railways.

1872.  Helps, Life T. Brassey, v. (1878), 77. A ‘set’ is a number of wagons—in fact, a train.

  6.  U.S. A light four-wheeled vehicle used for various business purposes; also, loosely, a similar vehicle used for pleasure. Dearborn wagon: see DEARBORN.

1837.  Haliburton, Clockmaker, Ser. I. v. 34. People soon began to assemble, some on foot, and others on horseback and in waggons.

1841.  [see DEARBORN].

1868.  Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women, xvii. Will you take me out in the trotting waggon with Puck?

  7.  A covered four-wheeled vehicle used as a living house by gipsies, travelling showmen, travellers, etc.

1851.  [see LIVING vbl. sb. 7].

1886.  Cornh. Mag., Sept., 298. The mess-waggon is always an important feature when an outfit starts on the ‘trail.’ Ibid., 299. During a halt he never left the waggon, but hung around [etc.].

  8.  U.S. A baby-carriage.

1847:  see wagon-frame in 11 a.

1887.  Cabot, Mem. Emerson, II. 282. The whole town assembled, down to the babies in their wagons, and as the train emerged from the Walden woods the engine sent forth a note of triumph, which was echoed by the cheers of the assemblage.

  9.  Short for dinner-wagon (see DINNER sb. 2). Cf. wagon-table in 12.

1906.  Charlotte Mansfield, Girl & Gods, viii. Margaret proceeded to cut the wire of a bottle, and then fetched glasses from a waggon.

  10.  Bookbinding. ‘A tool having four edges of cane mounted in a frame, and used to trim the edges of gold-leaf to a size for a book.’

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech.

  11.  attrib. and Comb.: a. attributive, as wagon-cover, -frame, -hire, -horse, -ox, -pole, -rut, -sail, -shed, -spoke, -spoor, -sprag, tilt, -tongue, -wheel, whip.

1832.  Boston (Lincs.) Her., 31 July, 1. A great Stock of lately-improved *Waggon-Covers.

1847.  Emerson, Poems, Threnody, 48.

1553.  in Burgon, Gresham (1839), I. iii. 141. And to [be] layd upon every waggon iij dry fatts, for the avoyding of the great charge of *waggon-hyre.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 40/2. Iumentum plaustrarium,… a cart horse, or *waggon horse.

1829.  Scott, Anne of G., xiv. A city-bred burgher of Ghent, Liege, or Ypres, is as distinct an animal from a knight of Hainault, as a Flanders waggon-horse from a Spanish jennet.

1864.  Kingsley, Roman & T., i. (1875), 7. The horns of the *waggon-oxen.

1768.  E. Holdsworth, Rem. Virgil, 154. It is very common at this time, in several parts of Italy, to cover the end of the *waggon-pole with plates of brass.

1660.  Hexham, II. Een wagen-leese, a *Wagon-rut.

1848.  Dickens, Dombey, xv. The new streets that had stopped disheartened in the mud and waggon-ruts.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., I. vii. 140. These mats are also used instead of *waggon-sails, and are very effectual in resisting both sun and rain.

1896.  Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, xvi. We have put our waterproof sheets ready on going to bed, and sometimes have spread the waggon-sails over the waggons.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wagon-shed, a shelter for carts and wagons.

1886.  Hardy, Woodlanders, iv. The daylight revealed the whole of Mr. Melbury’s homestead, of which the waggon-sheds had been an outlying erection.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 59. Her *Waggon Spokes made of long Spinners legs.

1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, vi. 174. On reaching the road, I saw fresh *wagon-spoor.

1885.  Times, 31 Oct., 8/3. The railway servants … armed with sticks and *wagon ‘spraggs,’ then advanced upon the criminals’ place of concealment.

1832.  Planting, 90, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The lower ends of ash poles cut from six to eighteen feet long…. They are cleft for the use of the cooper, *waggon-tilts, &c.

1860.  Mayne Reid, Hunters’ Feast, xvii. The breaking of our *waggon-tongue … delayed our journey.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., V. ii. 54. I will dismount, and by the *Waggon wheele, Trot like a Seruile footeman.

1860.  Emerson, Cond. Life, Considerations, Wks. (Bohn), II. 418. But who dares draw out the linchpin from the wagon-wheel?

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xxv. Their rude drivers … began to debate precedence with their *waggon-whips and quarter-staves.

  b.  objective and obj. genitive, as wagon builder, driver, maker, making.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., I. i. 4. It [a cap-tent waggon] requires the hand of a skilful *waggon-builder.

1552.  Huloet, *Waggon dryuer, iugarius.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., I. i. 15. A waggon-driver named Kleinboy, a stout active Hottentot.

1558.  in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 51. Skinners Sadlers *waggen makers.

1873.  J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 181. Wagon and carriage makers mainly use parallel iron vices.

  c.  instrumental, as wagon-travelling; d. similative, as wagon-shaped adj.

1837.  Hebert, Engin. & Mech. Encycl., II. 742. The kind of boiler attached to this engine is of the waggon-shaped kind.

1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, viii. 304. The natural concomitants of wagon-travelling.

  12.  Special comb.: wagon-bed, the body of a wagon; also, the bottom of the body; wagon-boiler, a form of engine-boiler (see quot.); † wagon-borough [ad. Da. or G. wagenburg], a defensive enclosure or barricade formed of baggage-wagons placed close together; wagon-bow (see quot.); wagon-breast U.S., a breast or working place in a coal-mine in which the wagons are taken up to the working face; wagon-ceiling Arch. (see qaot.); † wagon-coach = POST WAGON; wagon-corps Mil. = Corps of Wagoners s.v. WAGONER¹ 1; wagon-coupling (see quot.); wagon-drag, a shoe-brake for a wagon; wagon-drift S. Afr., a passage for wagons across a river; wagon-gallery, a gallery in a mine along which the wagons run; wagon-hammer (see quot.); wagon-house, a house, shed or shelter for wagons; † wagon-hunter cant, an agent of a brothel-keeper who for base purposes visited the inns at which the stage-wagons stopped; wagon-jack, -lock (see quots.); wagon-man, the driver of a wagon, a wagoner; wagon-master, a person who has charge of one or more wagons; spec. Mil., an officer commanding the wagon-train; wagon-road, a road for the passage of wagons; spec. in Coal-mining, a prepared road or railway for the haulage of wagons; wagon-roof = wagon-vault; wagon table (see quot. and sense 9 above); wagon-tipper (see quot.); wagon-top, the part of a locomotive-boiler, over the fire-box, which is elevated above the rest of the shell to provide greater steam-room (Cent. Dict., 1891); wagon-track, the track made by the passage of wagons; wagon-train Mil., a train, collection or service of transport wagons; also, a train of wagons used by colonial settlers; wagon-tree = WAGENBOOM; wagon-vault (see quot. 1892); hence wagon-vaulted a.; wagon-work, the construction and repair of wagons; wagon-wright, a maker or repairer of wagons; a wainwright; wagon-yard, a depôt for wagons used on a road or railway. Also WAGON-HEAD, WAGON-LOAD, WAGON-WAY.

1885.  Howells, in Century Mag., Sept., 672/1. In the grassy piazza two men had a humble show of figs and cakes for sale in their *wagon-beds.

1891.  C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 179. For though the river was fordable with care, the water came over the waggon-bed.

1837.  Hebert, Engin. & Mech. Encycl., I. 197. Those known by the term of *‘waggon boilers,’ from their shape, formed one of the many improvements of the steam engine introduced by Watt.

1548.  W. Patten, Exped. Scot., F 1 b. [Fearing a night attack we] entrenched our cariages and *waggen-boorowe, had good skout without and sure watch within.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wagon-bow, an arched-shaped slat with its ends planted in staples on the wagon-bed sides. Used to elevate the tilt or cover.

1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Wagon-breast. A breast into which wagons can be taken.

1875.  Encycl. Brit., II. 475/2. *Waggon-Ceiling, a boarded roof of the Tudor time, either of semicircular or polygonal section. It is boarded with thin oak, and ornamented with mouldings forming panels, and with loops at the intersections.

1675.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1047/4. Lost … out of the *Waggon-Coach, passing from Hertford to London, a Letter.

1676.  Lady Anne Fanshawe, Mem. (1829), 126. We hired a waggon-coach, for there is no other at Calais.

1810.  C. James, Milit. Dict., Corps of Wagoners, or royal *Wagon corps.

1817.  J. Scott, Paris Revisit. (ed. 4), 279. The Austrian waggon corps.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wagon-coupling, one for attaching the hind axle to the fore. Ibid., *Wagon-drag.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., II. xxx. 284. We held thither at a sharp trot, holding for the old *waggon-drift to avoid having to pass through the dense reeds.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 853. The ores are raised in these shafts to the level of the *waggon-gallery (galerie de roulage) by the whims provided with ropes and buckets.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wagon-hammer, the vertical bolt which connects the double-tree to the tongue, and upon which the double-tree swings.

1660.  Hexham, II., Een wagen-huys, a *wagon-house.

1758.  Ann. Reg., I. 79/2. He … made him up a bed of straw in the waggon, under the waggon-house.

1886.  Hardy, Woodlanders, iii. This erection was the waggon-house of the chief man of business.

c. 1766.  Cheats of Lond. Exposed, 46. *Waggon-hunters.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wagon-jack, one for lifting the wheels of a wagon clear of the ground. Ibid., *Wagon-lock, a device to bring a friction on the wheels of a wagon to retard its motion in descending hills.

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy., III. 484. The *wagon-man that had charge of me set an Indian carpenter a worke to mend the wheele.

1764.  London Mag., March, 144/2. What the waggon-men call a bye-way, made for the unloaded waggons to be drawn to the pitts.

1645.  in Papers rel. Army Solemn League & Cov. (S.H.S.), II. 502. *Waggonm^rs of the Army.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. xix (Roxb.), 163/2. Wagonmaster generall 10 s. per diem. Ibid., 164/1. The Waggon maister 5 s. Waggoners each 2 s.

1757.  Washington, Lett., Writ. 1889, I. 492. The commissary used to act as wagon-master.

1774.  Pennsylv. Gaz., 10 Aug. Suppl. 2/3. To the latter there is a good *waggon road already opened.

1884.  Jefferies, Life of Fields, 58. A white butterfly follows along the waggon-road.

1893.  Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, 371. Assisting the pioneers to make the waggon road.

1866.  Howells, Venet. Life, xi. 151. The low *wagon-roofs of the cross-naves.

1899.  Baring-Gould, Bk. of West, I. ii. 35. In a good many cases the waggon roofs are but ceiled cradle roofs.

1844.  T. Webster, Encycl. Dom. Econ., 240. Moving sideboards, or *waggon tables.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wagon-tipper, a device for tilting a wagon in order to dump its load.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., II. xx. 76. The larger of these caves is situated on the west side of the *waggon-track.

1884.  Jefferies, Life of Fields, 57. Leverets play in the waggon-track.

1810.  Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1838), VI. 302. I shall endeavor to send you … some horses and drivers belonging to the *waggon train.

1887.  J. C. Harris, Free Joe, etc., 165. For years and years before the war it had been noted as the meeting-place of the wagon-trains by means of which the planters transported their produce to market.

1822.  Burchell, Trav. S. Afr., I. 123, heading, The *Waggon-tree.

1835.  R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, vii. 72. Amongst the various forms of vaulted apartments … rectangles are of frequent occurrence, and these for the most part are covered with a *waggon vault.

1892.  Dict. Arch. (Arch. Publ. Soc.), Waggon roof or vault. A roof, semicircular in section, but somewhat higher than a semicircle or barrel roof, by rising from vertical sides.

1835.  R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, vii. 68. *Waggon-vaulted apartments.

1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., I. i. 16, note. Several coarse chisels for *waggon-work.

1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 378. Wood tough, used chiefly for wagon-work.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wagon-wright, a maker and mender of wagons.

1860.  Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 66 [Newcastle terms.] Waggonwright, a man who makes and repairs the chaldron waggons.

1827.  E. Mackenzie, Hist. Newcastle, II. 722. A waggon set out for London from the general *waggon-yard … every day.