Wolverine State. Michigan, on account of the prairie wolves which formerly infested this region. Its people are called “Wolverines.”
Wood Green. In old days this was a glade in Hornsey Wood.
Wood Street. In this locality congregated the turners of wooden cups, dishes, and measures of olden times.
Woolly Heads. An Americanism for the Negroes of the southern states.
Woolsack. The seat reserved for the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords, being a large sack stuffed with wool, and covered with scarlet cloth, its object being to keep him in constant reminder of the great importance of the woollen manufacture in England.
Woolwich. Anciently described as Hylwich, “hill town.”
Worcester. Known to the Anglo-Saxons as Hwicwara ceaster, “the stronghold of the Huiccii.” The latter portion of the name, however, proves that this must have been a Roman encampment; the Huiccii were a Celtic tribe.
Worcester College. Originally known as Gloucester Hall, this Oxford foundation was in 1714 enlarged and endowed as a college by Sir Thomas Cooksey of Astley, Worcestershire, who, not desiring his name to be handed down to posterity, called it after his native county.
Work a Dead Horse. A journeyman’s phrase implying that he has to set to work on the Monday morning upon that for which he has already been paid on the previous Saturday.
World’s End. A famous house of entertainment during the reign of Charles II., so called on account of its immense distance in those days out of London. Like many other places of outdoor resort, it exists now only as a public-house.