Ollie Ollie Oxen Free

Posted by ESC on April 30, 2001

In Reply to: Ollie Ollie Oxen Free posted by EThornburgh on April 30, 2001

: Can anyone give me the origin of the above subject?
: In youth it was applied to those participating in a game being called in "free" by calling out " Ollie Ollie Oxen Free".
: Are there other meanings - spellings? Origin?

: Thank You.

OLLY, OLLY OXEN FREE - "If you've ever wondered about the origins of this chant - used to call in all players at the end of a game of hide-and-seek - be advised that the experts only have a partial answer to your lifelong puzzlement. Word sleuths are fairly certain that the 'oxen' (or 'octen') in the call is simply a childish corruption of 'all in.' The rest remains a mystery." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

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