Meaning & use
welcome wagon
Last updated
Meanings
nounsingularinformalAmerican
A friendly effort by a group or community to greet and help a new person or family feel accepted.
Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'on the welcome wagon' or with 'roll out': They rolled out the welcome wagon.
Patterns
- on the welcome wagon
- roll out the welcome wagon for someone
- the welcome wagon comes around
When the new teacher arrived, the whole staff got on the welcome wagon and brought her lunch every day that week.
Our neighbors rolled out the welcome wagon as soon as we moved in, with cookies and a list of local plumbers.
Don't expect a welcome wagon in a big city — people usually keep to themselves at first.
nouncountableAmerican
A real or imagined vehicle or group that visits newcomers with gifts, information, or greetings.
Grammar: Can take 'a' or 'the' and be plural: welcome wagons.
Patterns
- send a welcome wagon
- the welcome wagon arrived
In small towns, a welcome wagon sometimes literally drives to your house with a basket of bread and a map.
The company sends a welcome wagon of colleagues to each new employee's desk on their first morning.
Word forms
| plural | welcome wagons |
|---|
Common combinations
- on the welcome wagon
- She's been on the welcome wagon ever since the new family arrived.
- roll out the welcome wagon
- The village rolled out the welcome wagon for the refugees.
- join the welcome wagon
- Why don't you join the welcome wagon and help greet the freshmen?
- the welcome wagon treatment
- He got the welcome wagon treatment: flowers, a card, and a personal tour.
Synonyms and how they differ
- warm welcome
- This is the general, neutral expression; 'welcome wagon' is more informal and suggests an organized group effort.
- reception committee
- This sounds more official and formal, while 'welcome wagon' is friendly and slightly playful.
Commonly confused: welcome wagon or welcome mat?
welcome wagon vs welcome mat
A 'welcome mat' is a real mat at a door; 'welcome wagon' is a figurative idea of a friendly greeting, not a physical object.
Practice
When the new family moved in, the neighbors decided to ______ the welcome wagon.
Choose one answer.
'Roll out the welcome wagon' is the fixed expression meaning to give a new person a warm, organized welcome. 'Roll up' means to arrive or to make a cigarette, 'roll in' means to arrive in large numbers, and 'roll over' means to turn over or surrender — none of these fits the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “welcome wagon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.