AND A PRAYER' The term 'WING and a prayer' is an idiom that originated during World War I. It refers to a situation where one is relying on luck or a miracle to succeed, as if they were flying on a WING and a prayer. The phrase is derived from the title of a popular song from 1918, which was written by Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh. The crossword solution for the term is WING, which is a four-letter word.