Meaning: Inattentive or literally asleep while on duty (definition).

Example: He nearly missed his exit because he was “asleep at the wheel.”

Origins: 19th century American railroading. (Origins.)


Rewrites: Dozing at the wheel Asleep at the keyboard Napping while knitting At rest in the guard tower Tuning the horn with some Z’s Monitoring the meter with half-open eyes Driving with another pair of eyes

Discussion: In this rewrite, I tried to come up with parallel idioms for the original, then I tried to recast it a little to approach the idea with similar metaphors.