Hoover wagon

noun

A broken-down or permanently out-of-gas car pulled by a horse, chiefly in the US during the Great Depression.

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Meanings

nounHoover wagon (plural Hoover wagons)

plural Hoover wagons

  1. UShistoricalA broken-down or permanently out-of-gas car pulled by a horse, chiefly in the US during the Great Depression.

    During that time Hoover wagons and Hoover buggies were known as the standard of quality throughout this area.

    1990, Roy M. Davis, Paw Paw River Times & People
    2 more examples

    The Americans had Hoover Wagons, which were engineless or permanently out-of-gas automobiles drawn by mules or horses. The Canadian name was Bennett Buggies.

    1961, Ralph Allen, Ordeal by Fire: Canada, 1910-1945, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday

    "Hoover wagons" were old cars pulled by horses since their owners could no longer pay for gasoline. The way things are going, we may be seeing Hoover wagons again before long.

    2008, The Barnes Review

Origin

Herbert Hoover, US president at the start of the Great Depression, + wagon.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Hoover wagon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hoover%20wagon

MLA

“Hoover wagon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hoover%20wagon. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hoover wagon,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hoover%20wagon.

Source: Hoover wagon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.