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call
[ kawl ]
verb (used with object)
- to cry out in a loud voice; shout:
He called her name to see if she was home.
- to command or request to come; summon:
to call a dog;
to call a cab;
to call a witness.
- to ask or invite to come:
Will you call the family to dinner?
- to communicate or try to communicate with by telephone:
Call me when you arrive.
- to rouse from sleep, as by a call; waken:
Call me at eight o'clock.
- to read over (a roll or a list) in a loud voice.
- to convoke or convene:
We will now call Congress into session.
- to announce authoritatively; proclaim:
The company called a halt to production of their latest line after many items failed quality checks.
- to order into effect; decree:
The union is planning to call a strike late this year.
- to schedule:
The director should call one more rehearsal before opening night.
- to summon by or as if by divine command:
He felt called to the ministry.
- to summon to an office, duty, etc.:
His country called him to service during the Korean War.
- to cause to come; bring:
to call to mind;
to call into existence.
- to bring under consideration or discussion:
The judge called the case to court.
- to attract or lure (birds or animals) by imitating characteristic sounds.
- to direct or attract (attention):
He called his roommate's attention to the mess.
- to name or address (someone) as:
His parents named him James, but the boys call him Jim.
- to designate as something specified:
He called me a liar.
I call that a mean remark.
- to demand of (someone) that they fulfill a promise, furnish evidence for a statement, etc.:
They called him on his story.
- to criticize adversely; express disapproval of; censure:
She called him on his vulgar language.
- to demand payment or fulfillment of (a loan).
- to demand presentation of (bonds) for redemption.
- to forecast correctly:
He has called the outcome of the last three elections.
- Sports. (of an official)
- to pronounce a judgment on (a shot, pitch, batter, etc.):
The umpire called the pitch a strike.
- to put an end to (a contest) because of inclement weather, poor field conditions, etc.:
A sudden downpour forced the umpire to call the game.
- Pool. to name (the ball) one intends to drive into a particular pocket.
- Computers. to invoke (a subroutine or procedure) in a computer program.
- Cards.
- to demand (a card).
- to demand the display of a hand by (a player).
- Poker. to equal (a bet) or equal the bet made by (the preceding bettor) in a round.
- Bridge. to signal one's partner for a lead of (a certain card or suit).
verb (used without object)
She called to the children.
- to telephone or try to telephone a person:
He promised to call at noon.
- to make a short visit; stop at a place on some errand or business:
She called at the store for the package.
- Cards.
- to demand a card.
- to demand a showing of hands.
- Poker. to equal a bet.
- Bridge. to bid or pass.
- (of a bird or animal) to utter its characteristic cry.
noun
- a cry or shout:
She gave a call across the lawn to her friend.
- the cry or vocal sound of a bird or other animal:
A crow's call sounds different from a raven's.
- an instrument for imitating this cry and attracting or luring an animal:
He bought a duck call.
- an act or instance of telephoning:
She returned his call as soon as her meeting was over.
- a short visit:
to make a call on someone.
- a summons or signal sounded by a bugle, bell, etc.:
We live so close to the fort that we can hear the bugle calls.
- a summons, invitation, or bidding:
The students gathered at the call of the dean.
- a calling of a roll; roll call.
- the fascination or appeal of a given place, vocation, etc.:
the call of the sea.
- a mystic experience of divine appointment to a vocation or service:
He had a call to become a minister.
- a request or invitation to become pastor of a church, a professor in a university, etc.
- a need or occasion:
He had no call to say such outrageous things.
- a demand or claim:
to make a call on a person's time.
- a demand for payment of an obligation, especially where payment is at the option of the creditor.
- Cards.
- a demand for a card or a showing of hands.
- Poker. an equaling of the preceding bet.
- Bridge. a bid or pass.
- Sports. a judgment or decision by an umpire, a referee, or other official of a contest, as on a shot, pitch, or batter:
The referees were making one bad call after another.
- Theater.
- a notice of rehearsal posted by the stage manager.
- Dance. a figure or direction in square dancing, announced to the dancers by the caller.
- Also called call option. Finance. an option that gives the right to buy a fixed amount of a particular stock at a predetermined price within a given period of time, purchased by a person who believes the price will rise. Compare put ( def 24 ).
- Fox Hunting. any of several cries, or sounds made on a horn by the hunter to encourage the hounds.
verb phrase
- to ask; appeal to:
They called on him to represent them.
- to visit for a short time:
to call on friends.
- to request or pray for; invoke:
to call down the wrath of God.
- to reprimand; scold:
The boss called us down for lateness.
- to distract; take away:
Please call off your dog.
- to cancel (something) that had been planned for a certain date:
The performance was called off because of rain.
- to summon into action; bring into existence:
to call forth her courage and resolve.
- to cause to leave or go; summon:
A death in the family called him away.
- to bring forward for consideration or discussion.
- to cause to remember; evoke.
- to communicate or try to communicate with by telephone.
- to summon for action or service:
A large number of Army reservists were called up.
- Computers. to summon (information) from a computer system for display on a screen:
She called up the full text.
call
/ kɔːl /
verb
- often foll by out to speak or utter (words, sounds, etc) loudly so as to attract attention
he called out her name
- tr to ask or order to come
to call a policeman
- intrsometimes foll byon to make a visit (to)
she called on him
- often foll by up to telephone (a person)
he called back at nine
- tr to summon to a specific office, profession, etc
he was called to the ministry
- (of animals or birds) to utter (a characteristic sound or cry)
- tr to summon (a bird or animal) by imitating its cry
- tr to name or style
they called the dog Rover
- tr to designate
they called him a coward
- dialect.tr to speak ill of or scold
- tr to regard in a specific way
I call it a foolish waste of time
- tr to attract (attention)
- tr to read (a list, register, etc) aloud to check for omissions or absentees
- whentr, usually foll by for to give an order (for)
to call a strike
- intr to try to predict the result of tossing a coin
- tr to awaken
I was called early this morning
- tr to cause to assemble
to call a meeting
- tr sport (of an umpire, referee, etc) to pass judgment upon (a shot, player, etc) with a call
- tr to broadcast a commentary on (a horse race or other sporting event)
- tr to demand repayment of (a loan, redeemable bond, security, etc)
- troften foll byup accounting to demand payment of (a portion of a share issue not yet paid by subscribers)
- tr to award (a student at an Inn of Court) the degree of barrister (esp in the phrase call to the bar )
- tr computing to transfer control to (a named subprogram)
- tr poker to demand that (a player) expose his hand, after equalling his bet
- intr bridge to make a bid
- (in square-dancing) to call out (instructions) to the dancers
- billiards to ask (a player) to say what kind of shot he will play or (of a player) to name his shot
- intrfoll byfor
- to require
this problem calls for study
- to come or go (for) in order to fetch
I will call for my book later
- intr; foll by on or upon to make an appeal or request (to)
they called upon him to reply
- tr to predict the outcome of an event
we don't know yet if the plan has succeeded because it's too soon to call
- call into beingto create
- call into playto begin to operate
- call in question or call into questionSee question
- call it a dayto stop work or other activity
- too close to call(of the outcome of a competition, election, match, etc) unable to be predicted
- call to mindto remember or cause to be remembered
noun
- a cry or shout
- the characteristic cry of a bird or animal
- a device, such as a whistle, intended to imitate the cry of a bird or animal
- a summons or invitation
- a summons or signal sounded on a horn, bugle, etc
- hunting any of several notes or patterns of notes, blown on a hunting horn as a signal
- hunting
- an imitation of the characteristic cry of a wild animal or bird to lure it to the hunter
- an instrument for producing such an imitation
- a short visit
the doctor made six calls this morning
- an inner urge to some task or profession; vocation
- allure or fascination, esp of a place
the call of the forest
- the summons to the bar of a student member of an Inn of Court
- need, demand, or occasion
there is no call to shout
we don't get much call for stockings these days
- demand or claim (esp in the phrase the call of duty )
- theatre a notice to actors informing them of times of rehearsals
- (in square dancing) an instruction to execute new figures
- a conversation or a request for a connection by telephone
- commerce
- a demand for repayment of a loan
- ( as modifier )
call money
- finance
- a demand for redeemable bonds or shares to be presented for repayment
- a demand for an instalment payment on the issue price of bonds or shares
- billiards a demand to an opponent to say what kind of shot he will play
- poker a demand for a hand or hands to be exposed
- bridge a bid, or a player's turn to bid
- a decision or judgment
it's your call
- sport a decision of an umpire or referee regarding a shot, pitch, etc
- a broadcast commentary on a horse race or other sporting event
- Also calledcall option stock exchange an option to buy a stated amount of securities at a specified price during a specified period Compare put
- See roll call
- call for marginstock exchange a demand made by a stockbroker for partial payment of a client's debt due to decreasing value of the collateral
- call of natureSee nature
- on call
- (of a loan, etc) repayable on demand
- available to be called for work outside normal working hours
- within callwithin range; accessible
Other Words From
- un·called adjective
- well-called adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of call1
Word History and Origins
Origin of call1
Idioms and Phrases
- on call,
- payable or subject to return without advance notice.
- readily available for summoning upon short notice.
- take a call, to acknowledge the applause of the audience after a performance by appearing for a bow or a curtain call.
- within call, within distance or range of being spoken to or summoned:
Please stay within call.
- call in sick. sick 1( def 14 ).
- call to order. order ( def 48 ).
More idioms and phrases containing call
- above and beyond (the call of duty)
- at someone's beck and call
- close call
- dressing (calling) down
- no call for
- on call
- pay a call
- pot calling the kettle black
- too close to call
- uncalled for
- wake-up call
- within call
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Note: UNICOR uses its inmates for everything from call center operators to human demolishers of old computers.
This is the Mexico that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and most major U.S. corporations, are eager to call amigo.
Al Qaeda has never managed to carve out a large chunk of real estate to call its own—in Afghanistan it was a guest of the Taliban.
Who else would see a former spouse accused of underage sex and call him ‘the greatest man there is’?
Almost everyone I spoke to said they have used JSwipe because they are specifically not just looking for a booty call.
Everything is topsy-turvy in Europe according to our moral ideas, and they don't have what we call "men" over here.
It was like his beautiful courtesy to call me in and introduce me to Blow instead of letting me go away.
After an hour, however, he reached this decision: He would not go to or call up Mrs. Merley.
"I call you," the policeman said, and stripping the saddle and bridle from his sweaty horse, turned him loose to graze.
Each did his duty, or was adjured to do it, in the "state of life to which it had pleased God to call him."
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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