call

Etymology

From Middle English callen, from Old English ceallian (“to call, shout”) and Old Norse kalla (“to call; shout; refer to as; name”); both from Proto-Germanic *kalzōną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *golH-so- (“voice, cry”), from *gelH-. Cognate with Scots call, caw, ca (“to call, cry, shout”), Dutch kallen (“to chat, talk”), obsolete German kallen (“to call”), Swedish kalla (“to call, refer to, beckon”), Norwegian kalle (“to call, name”), Danish kalde (“to call, name”), Icelandic kalla (“to call, shout, name”), Welsh galw (“to call, demand”), Polish głos (“voice”), Lithuanian gal̃sas (“echo”), Russian голос (golos, “voice”), Albanian gjuhë (“language, tongue”).

noun

1. A telephone conversation; a phone call.
   I received several phone calls today.
   I received several calls today.
2. An instance of calling someone on the telephone.
   I made a call to Jim, but he didn't answer.
3. A short visit, usually for social purposes.
   I paid a call to a dear friend of mine.
4. (nautical) A visit by a ship or boat to a port.
   The ship made a call at Southampton.
5. A cry or shout.
   He heard a call from the other side of the room.
6. A decision or judgement.
   That was a good call.
7. The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
   That sound is the distinctive call of the cuckoo bird.
8. A beckoning or summoning.
   I had to yield to the call of the wild.
   We actually have a call tomorrow, which is a Sunday, right after my bridal shower. I have to make enchiladas for 10 people! 2007, Latina, volume 11, page 101
9. The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor.
   The Prime Minister has the call.
   I give the call to the Manager of Opposition Business.
10. (finance) Short for call option.
11. (cricket) The act of calling to the other batsman.
12. (cricket) The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)
13. (uncountable) A work shift which requires one to be available when requested, i.e. on call.
    page 48: “Mondays would be great, especially after a weekend of call.” page 56: “[…] I’ve got call tonight, and all weekend, but I’ll be off tomorrow to help you some.” 1978, Alan E. Nourse, The Practice, Harper & Row
    page 29: I took general-surgery call at Bossier Medical Center and asked special permission to take general-medical call, which was gladly given away by the older staff members: […]. You would be surprised at how many surgical cases came out of medical call. page 206: My first night of primary medical call was greeted about midnight with a very ill 30-year-old lady who had a temperature of 103 degrees. 2007, William D. Bailey, You Will Never Run out of Jesus, CrossHouse Publishing,
    We attempted to include all topics that we ourselves have faced while taking plastic surgery call at the affiliated hospitals in the Texas Medical Center, one of the largest medical centers in the world, which sees over 100,000 patients per day. 2008, Jamal M. Bullocks et al., Plastic Surgery Emergencies: Principles and Techniques, Thieme, page ix
    The columns in the second rectangle show fewer hours, but part of that is due to the fact that there's a division between a work call and a show call. 2009, Steven Louis Shelley, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, page 171
14. (computing) The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the original point.
15. A statement of a particular state, or rule, made in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
    There was a 20 dollar bet on the table, and my call was 9.
16. (poker) The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting.
17. A note blown on the horn to encourage the dogs in a hunt.
18. (nautical) A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate to summon the sailors to duty.
19. A pipe or other instrument to call birds or animals by imitating their note or cry. A game call.
20. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
21. (archaic) Vocation; employment; calling.
22. (US, law) A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant requiring or calling for a corresponding object, etc., on the land.
23. (informal, slang, prostitution) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job.
    "They have a little network of women that watch out for each other," Morford said. That means that if one prostitute doesn't come back after going out on a call – whether it's an Internet prostitute or a streetwalker – and the other women can't get hold of her, they get scared, close up shop and won't work, Morford said. 3 March 2015, Lyda Longa, “Internet hookups mean fewer prostitutes on Daytona’s streets, police say”, in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla.
24. (law) A lawyer who was called to the bar (became licensed as a lawyer) in a specified year.
    The work was done by two lawyers, one a 1983 call and the other a 2010 call. 28 October 2020, Master K.E. Jolley, “Korlyakov v. Riesz, 2020 ONSC 6622”, in CanLII, retrieved 2021-06-19
25. (in negative constructions) Need; necessity.
    There's no call for that kind of bad language!
    CALL 2 need for. "There worn't noa call for nowt o't'soart." 1865, William Stott Banks, Wakefield Words, page 11

verb

1. To use one's voice.
   1. (intransitive) To request, summon, or beckon.
      That person is hurt; call for help!
   2. (intransitive) To cry or shout.
   3. (transitive) To utter in a loud or distinct voice.
      to call the roll of a military company
   4. (transitive, intransitive) To contact by telephone.
      Why don’t you call me in the morning?
      Why don’t you call tomorrow?
   5. (transitive) To declare in advance.
      The captains call the coin toss.
   6. To rouse from sleep; to awaken.
   7. To declare (an effort or project) to be a failure.
      After the third massive failure, John called the whole initiative.
   8. (transitive, jazz) To request that one's band play (a particular tune).
      They called I Got Rhythm, and turned to me again for a solo, and I said what? 1997, Saxophone Journal
      Jeff Castleman and Rufus Jones were in position when they went out, and he immediately called Satin Doll. 2002, Ken Vail, Duke's Diary
      I thought he forgot all about it, but late in the set he called St. Louis Blues. 2015, Clyde E. B. Bernhardt, I Remember: Eighty Years of Black Entertainment, Big Bands, and the Blues, University of Pennsylvania Press, page 98
2. (heading, intransitive) To visit.
   1. To pay a (social) visit (often used with "on", "round", or "at"; used by salespeople with "again" to invite customers to come again).
      We could always call on a friend.
      The engineer called round whilst you were away.
   2. To stop at a station or port.
      This train calls at Reading, Slough and London Paddington.
      Our cruise ship called at Bristol Harbour.
   3. To come to pass; to afflict.
3. To name, identify or describe.
   1. (ditransitive) To name or refer to.
      Why don’t we dispense with the formalities. Please call me Al.
      I don't know how you and the 'head,' as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a 'livery' again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, →OL
      But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three–what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches. 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
   2. (in passive) Of a person, to have as one's name; of a thing, to have as its name.
      I’m called John.
      A very tall building is called a skyscraper.
      The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight. 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist
   3. (transitive) To predict.
      He called twelve of the last three recessions.
   4. To state, or estimate, approximately or loosely; to characterize without strict regard to fact.
      They call the distance ten miles.
      That's enough work. Let's call it a day and go home.
      The whole army is called 700,000 men 1842, Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy
   5. (transitive) To formally recognise a death: especially to announce and record the time, place and fact of a person’s death.
      “Let’s call it. Time of death, 08:45.” The respiratory therapist stopped bagging. The doctor stopped CPR. There was no heartbeat on the monitor. Michael was dead. 2012, Marcy O. Diehl, Medical Transcription: Techniques and Procedures (Seventh Edition), page 127: EXAMPLES: Time of death was called at 16:34(Incorrect). Time of death was called at 1634 p.m.(Incorrect). Time of death was called at 1634 hours(Correct). NOTE: Military (or 24-hour) time is not used with a.m, p.m, or o’clock. It is frequently used to state birth and death times, as well as time of day in autopsy protocols. It is customary to write the word hours after the figures. 1997, Joanni Nelson Horchler, Robin Rice Morris, The SIDS Survival Guide: Information and Comfort for Grieving Family and Friends and Professionals who Seek to Help Them, page 33
      If you are staring your dream in the face and seeing that it is time to quit, I urge you to call the time of death right now. You can sit here with this book in your hand and do it, or climb to a mountaintop and shout it, or write it on a message in a bottle and throw it out to sea. However you do it, do it. I can guarantee that there is life on the other side of the impossible. And naming the time of death is an important process in moving on, letting go, and getting to the other side. 2015, Tracey Cleantis, The Next Happy: Let Go of the Life You Planned and Find a New Way Forward
   6. (transitive) To claim the existence of some malfeasance; to denounce as.
      I call bullshit.
      She called foul on their scheme.
      Having been around the block a few times, I immediately called "shenanigans” on it, but even so, I was taken aback. 2008, PC Magazine
   7. (obsolete) To disclose the class or character of; to identify.
4. (heading, sports) Direct or indirect use of the voice.
   1. (cricket) (of a batsman): To shout directions to the other batsman on whether or not they should take a run.
   2. (baseball, cricket) (of a fielder): To shout to other fielders that he intends to take a catch (thus avoiding collisions).
   3. (intransitive, poker) To equal the same amount that other players are currently betting.
      I bet $800 and Jane raised to $1600. My options: call (match her $1600 bet), reraise or fold.
   4. (intransitive, poker, proscribed) To match the current bet amount, in preparation for a raise in the same turn. (Usually, players are forbidden to announce one's play this way.)
      I’ll call your 300, and raise to 600!
   5. (transitive) To state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
      My partner called two spades.
5. (transitive, sometimes with for) To require, demand.
   He felt called to help the old man.
6. (transitive, with into) To cause to be verbally subjected to.
   The basis for his conclusion was called into doubt
7. (transitive, colloquial) To lay claim to an object or role which is up for grabs.
   I call the comfy chair!
   Mr. Burns: Any of these islands would make a fine new country. / Homer: I call president! / Mr. Burns: Vice president! / Smithers: [groans] 1998, “The Trouble with Trillions”, in The Simpsons, season 9
8. (transitive, finance) To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium.
9. (transitive, banking) To demand repayment of a loan.
10. (transitive, computing) To jump to (another part of a program) to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion.
    A recursive function is one that calls itself.
11. (Yorkshire) To scold.
    CALL 1 scold" 1865, William Stott Banks, Wakefield Words, page 11
12. (sports) To make a decision as a referee or umpire.
    The goal was called offside.
13. (cue sports) To tell in advance which shot one is attempting.
    Every shot must be called.