Search: olly olly oxen free
Why: In Breakfast of Champions, p. 260:
Dwayne glanced around craftily. Then he called out a signal he had used as a child to indicate that a came of hide-and-seek was over, that it was time for children in hiding to go home.Answer: It might be from the German phrase "Alle, alle auch sind frei!" which translates to "All, all are also free" or "Everybody is free."
Here is what he called, and the sun was down when he called it: "Olly-olly-ox-in-freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
Source: Wikipedia
The More You Know: The phrase seems to be an English-Norman French-Dutch/German concoction. Other variations include "Alles, alles," "Allez, allez," "Oyez, oyez," and "in kommen frei."
