Dictionaries define 'on the go'
mostly as:
- very busy (Cambridge)
- very busy or active (Macmillan)
- very active or busy (Oxford)
- to be very active and busy (Oxford Learner's)
- constantly or restlessly active (MW)
- very active or busy (MW Learner's)
- active and energetic / in constant motion or action (Collins)
- very busy doing a lot of things (Longman)
- actively traveling; busy; moving often (Wiktionary)
and also as:
- in the process of being produced (Cambridge)
- in the process of being done or produced (Macmillan)
- happening or going (MW Learner's)
- if you have something on the go, you have started it and are busy doing it (Longman)
- in progress; having started (Wiktionary)
and occasionally as:
- quickly while doing some other activity (Macmillan)
Several times, however, I have encountered the following kind of usage:
There is always a bottle or glass of something on the go at my desk or with me! (source)
Chain-smoking chimp who's so addicted he has two cigarettes on the go at once (source)
The dictionary definitions do not seem to cover this meaning.
The second group of definitions comes closest, but even that is a rather poor fit (a drink or a cigarette done / produced / happening / going?).
Even the sentences provided as examples (on the dictionary sites) use 'on the go' in connection with projects and inititatives, not drinks and cigs.
Is this another meaning for 'on the go' not covered by the dictionaries? Or perhaps not even proper usage?
Thank you.
