- demolition
- 1540s, from Fr. démolition (14c.), from L. demolitionem, noun of action from demoliri (see demolish). Mencken noted demolition engineer for "house-wrecker" by 1936. Demolition derby is recorded from 1956, Amer.Eng., defined by OED as "a contest in which old cars are battered into one another, the last one running being declared the winner."