Windsor. Anciently described as “Windlesora,” the winding shore.
Wine Office Court. From an ancient office where wine licences were issued.
Winnipeg. Indian for “lake of the turbid water.”
Wirepuller. In allusion to the manipulators of the figures at a marionette show.
Wisconsin. Indian for “wild-rushing channel.”
Within an Ace. Since the ace in a pack of cards is the unit of pips, he who accomplishes anything by the merest shave does so within a single mark.
Wizard of the North. Sir Walter Scott, so called on account of the enchantment which, through his novels, he exercised over the inhabitants of North Britain.
Woburn Square. After Woburn Abbey, the ancestral seat of the Duke of Bedford.
Woke up the Wrong Passenger. An Americanism for having made a mistake in the individual. This originated in the Mississippi steamboats, the stewards on board of which often call up the wrong passenger at the stopping-places by night.
Wolverhampton. Anciently “Wulfrune’s Hampton,” so called from the church and college of St Peter founded by Wulfrune, the sister of King Edgar, in 996.