Symbols - What does heaven look like
Olly olly oxen free
Olly olly oxen free (and variants:
- ollie ollie umphrey,
- olly-olly-ee,
- outtie outtie lets be free,
- all-y all-y all set free,
- Ollie Ollie in come free,
- ally alley ocean free,
etc.) is a catchphrase used in such children's games as hide and seek, capture the flag or kick the can to indicate that players who are hiding can come out into the open without losing the game, that the position of the sides in a game has changed (as in which side is in the field or which side is at bat or "up" in baseball or kickball), or, alternatively, that the game is entirely over.
In spiritual circles it means that the materialists or mystic persecutors are losing and the spiritualists can now 'come out' as it were.