smoke wagon

See also: smoke-wagon

English

WOTD – 21 December 2024

Etymology

From smoke +‎ wagon, probably a humorous reference to a conveyance or implement which “carries” or generates smoke.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsməʊk ˌwæɡ(ə)n/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsmoʊk ˌwæɡən/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Hyphenation: smoke wa‧gon

Noun

smoke wagon (plural smoke wagons) (US, slang, archaic)

(rail transport, road transport) A vehicle that generates smoke; specifically, an automobile or a train.
- 1852 December 25 (week ending), “Random Readings”, in Family Herald: A Domestic Magazine of Useful Information and Amusement, volume X, number 503, London: George Biggs, […], →OCLC, page 560, column 1:
  If you gwine afoot, it'll take you about a day; if you gwine in de stage or de homneybuss, you make it in half a day; but if you get in one ob dese smoke-waggons, you be almost dar now!
  Reproducing the speech of a black person.
- 1888 August, David Ker, “A Wonderful Railroad”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume LXXVII, number CCCCLIX, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 483:
  The village priests were seen to go to and fro by train, and the simple country folk thought that what they did could not be wrong. By degrees the peasants themselves began to try the "smoke-wagons" too, […]
- 1913 October 17, “Idaho Indians Take to Autos: Two Enterprising Nez Perces Start Rush for ‘Smoke Wagons’”, in The Carlisle Arrow, volume X, number 7, Carlisle, Pa.: Carlisle Indian Press for students of the United States Indian School, →OCLC, page [4]:
  Indians of Idaho are losing their superstitious feeling about the "smoke wagon," as they call an automobile, and the rush to get machines has started among the more intelligent and wealthy tribesmen.
  Quoted from The New York Times.
- [1958 November 18 (date delivered), Harry A. Williams, “Accomplishments in Air Pollution Control by the Automobile Industry”, in Proceedings: National Conference on Air Pollution, Washington, D.C., November 18–20, 1958 (Public Health Service Publication; number 654), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office [for the Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare], published 1959, →OCLC, page 58:
  I am not old enough to remember those one- and two-cylinder primitives that first chugged on the scene around the turn of the century. But those who can remember attest to the fact that they came in with billowing plumes of smoke in their wake. Indeed, "smoke-wagon" was commonly their derisive designation. You can still see why, if you witness a demonstration of antique cars restored to their prime by proud owners today.]
- 1970 February 11, “The environment: clean up or patch up?”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A20; reproduced in “President [Richard] Nixon’s Environmental Message”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 91st Congress, Second Session (United States Senate), volume 116, part 3, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, February 17, 1970, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3496, column 3:
  [T]he President said nothing on how to protect our lungs from the some 70 million smoke wagons currently on the road.
(weaponry) A handgun, especially a revolver.
- 1858 (date written), William P. Seville, “[June 27, 1858]”, in John W. N. Schulz, editor, Narrative of the March of Co. A, Engineers from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Return: May 6 to October 3, 1858 […] (Occasional Papers, Engineer School, United States Army; number 48), Washington Barracks, D.C.: Press of the Engineer School, published 1912, →OCLC, page 18:
  […] Bourcey, the blacksmith, who was fitting on a mule's shoe, returned with the shoe at the end of the tongs, and, thrusting it into the fire, began blowing the bellows. It was laughable to see the stampede among the redskins when they saw this ominous maneuver—they thought he was going to fire the "smoke wagon."
- 1909 January 17 (date written), Galbraith, “An Irishman’s View of Mexico”, in W. B. Marquis [et al.], editors, The Stentor, volume XXIII, number 17, Lake Forest, Ill.: The Lake Forester Press [for Lake Forest College], published 18 February 1909, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 199, column 1:
  The boss of construction across the river is a little sawed off individual named Nelson, and to see him standing like Napoleon, on the huge fill which issues above the river, with a great big smoke wagon, pointed forward, strapped to his leg and pulling him over sideways from its weight; is a picture which would surely make angels weep.
- 1911 February, Herbert Corey, “Lonesomeness”, in Pearson’s Magazine, American edition, volume 25, number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Pearson Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 182, column 2:
  But come morning, we agreed to forgive and forget. Bain he says he was sure glad to hear that, but he'd take our guns away with him any how. Bain says we could have our smoke wagons after a week, by which time he figured we got this worm out of our brains.
- [1926 September, Nicholas Klein, “Hobo Lingo”, in American Speech, volume I, number 12, Baltimore, Md.: The Williams & Wilkins Company, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 653, column 1:
  [page 650] The following list of hobo words, presented in glossary form, was collected by me during twenty years of experience with hobo cases in my profession of attorney-at-law. I have consulted no books or records in compiling it but made it directly from experience. […] [page 653] Smoke wagon—pistol.]
- 1993 December 25, Kevin Jarre, Tombstone, spoken by Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Burbank, Calif.: Hollywood Pictures, →OCLC:
  Go ahead. Skin it. Skin that smoke wagon and see what happens. […] I'm getting tired of your gas. Jerk that pistol and go to work.
- 1997, Mike Cox, quoting John P. “Slim” Jones, “The Battle of Borger”, in Texas Ranger Tales: Stories that Need Telling, Lanham, Md.: Republic of Texas Press, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 201:
  I soon heard two smoke-wagons [pistols] banging. […] There they lay both shot and dying.
- 2018 August, Eric Red, chapter 37, in Noose (A Joe Noose Western), New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, pages 236–237:
  Culhane turned up his palms in a vague gesture of surrender that brought both hands an inch closer to the smoke wagons slung in his holsters.

Alternative forms

smoke-wagon

Translations

automobile — see automobile

train — see train

handgun — see handgun

revolver — see revolver

References

^ See, for example, John S. Sledge (2017) “The Battle of Mobile Bay”, in These Rugged Days: Alabama in the Civil War, Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, →ISBN, page 133: “Modern observers are amazed at how much smoke even small-caliber black-powder weapons generate. Not for nothing did the old-timers refer to Civil War-era revolvers as ‘smoke poles’ or ‘smoke wagons.’”