call
verbUK /kɔːl/ · US /kɔl/
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gels-der. Proto-Indo-European *golsos Proto-Germanic *kalzazder. Proto-Germanic *kalzōną Proto-West Germanic *kalʀōn Old English cealliander. Old English *callian Middle English callen English call From Middle English callen, from Old English ċeallian (“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 *gel(H)- (“to vocalize, call, shout”). Cognates * Scots call, caw, ca (“to call, cry, shout”) * Dutch kallen (“to chat, talk”) * German Low German kallen (“to speak, talk”) * 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”).
32 senses
- 1To request, summon, or beckon.
- 2To cry or shout.
- 3To utter in a loud or distinct voice.
- 4To contact by telephone.
- 5To rouse from sleep; to awaken.
- 6To request that one's band play (a particular tune).
- 7To scold.
- 8To pay a (social) visit (often used with "on", "round"…
- 9To stop at a station or port.
- 10To come to pass; to afflict.
- 11To name or refer to.
- 12Of a person, to have as one's name; of a thing, to have…
- 13To state, or estimate, approximately or loosely; to…
- 14To claim the existence of some malfeasance; to denounce as.
- 15To disclose the class or character of; to identify.
- 16To declare in advance.
- 17To predict.
- 18To formally recognise a death: especially to announce…
- 19To declare (an effort or project) to be a failure.
- 20To make a decision as a referee or umpire.
- 21(of a batsman): To shout directions to the other batsman…
- 22(of a fielder): To shout to other fielders that he…
- 23To tell in advance which shot one is attempting.
- 24To equal the same amount that other players are…
- 25To match the current bet amount, in preparation for a…
- 26To state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as…
- 27To require, demand.
- 28To cause to be verbally subjected to.
- 29To lay claim to an object or role which is up for grabs.
- 30To announce the early extinction of a debt by…
- 31To demand repayment of a loan.
- 32To jump to (another part of a program); to perform some…
› To reach out with one's voice.
Heading To request, summon, or beckon.
- That person is hurt; call for help!
- So they called for Rooms; and he ſhewed them one for Christiana and her Children and Mercy, and another for Mr. Great-heart and the old Gentleman.1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally Published by John Bunyan: Being a Fac-simile Reproduction of the First Edition, London: Elliot Stock […], 1875, →OCLC, page 128:
Heading To cry or shout.
- "Supper's ready," called Dad from the kitchen.
- If you heare a child crie in the night you must call to the nurſe and bid her ſtil it.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
1 more example
- For far—oh, very far behind, / So far she cannot call to him, / Comes Tegumai alone to find / The daughter that was all to him!1902, Rudyard Kipling, “How the Alphabet was Made”, in Just So Stories: For Little Children, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 169:
Heading To utter in a loud or distinct voice.
- to call the roll of a military company
- Not ballad-ſinger plac'd above the croud, / Sings with a note ſo ſhrilling ſweet and loud, / Nor pariſh clerk who calls the pſalm ſo clear, / Like Bowzybeus ſooths th' attentive ear.1714, J[ohn] Gay, “Saturday; or, The Flights”, in The Shepherd’s Week. In Six Pastorals, London: […] R. Burleigh […], →OCLC, page 56, lines 47–50:
Heading Ambitransitive To contact by telephone.
- Why don’t you call me in the morning?
- Why don’t you call tomorrow?
1 more example
- There they waited until after eleven, then Paulvitch took down the receiver of their telephone. He called a number.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 41:
Heading To rouse from sleep; to awaken.
- Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning: / And if thou canſt awake by foure o’th’clock, / I prythee call me: Sleepe hath ceiz’d me wholly.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 376, column 2:
Heading 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:
1 more example
- 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, →ISBN, page 98:
Heading Yorkshire To scold.
- CALL 1 scold1865, William Stott Banks, Wakefield Words, page 11:
› To visit.
Heading 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 more examples
- [...] He ordered Her to call at His Houſe once a Week, which She did for ſome Time; after which He heard no more of Her.a. 1700 (date written), William Temple, “Of Health and Long-life”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. […], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, →OCLC, page 127:
- The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:
Heading To stop at a station or port.
- This train calls at Reading, Slough and London Paddington.
- Our cruise ship called at Bristol Harbour.
Heading To come to pass; to afflict.
- They say your love will surely fade, girl, / When things go wrong and trouble calls.1968 December 8, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder, “I’d Be a Fool Right Now”, in For Once in My Life, performed by Stevie Wonder, Tamla Records:
› To name, identify, or describe.
Heading To name or refer to.
- Why don’t we dispense with the formalities? Please call me Al.
- Don't call me a liar.
3 more examples
- 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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, “The Shadow of the Bat”, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6:
- 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 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
Heading 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.
1 more example
- 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:
Heading 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.
1 more example
- The whole army is called 700,000 men1842, Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy:
Heading To claim the existence of some malfeasance; to denounce as.
- I call bullshit.
- She called foul on their scheme.
1 more example
- Having been around the block a few times, I immediately called "shenanigans” on it, but even so, I was taken aback.2008, PC Magazine:
Heading Obsolete To disclose the class or character of; to identify.
- This ſpeech calls him Spaniard, being nothing but / A large inventory of his own commendations.c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Philaster: Or, Love Lies a Bleeding”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 22, column 2:
› To declare, or declare in favor of, a…
Heading To declare in advance.
- The captains call the coin toss.
Heading To predict.
- He called twelve of the last three recessions.
Heading 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.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:
- 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.2012, Marcy O. Diehl, Medical Transcription: Techniques and Procedures (Seventh Edition), page 127:
1 more example
- 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:
Heading To declare (an effort or project) to be a failure.
- After the third massive failure, John called the whole initiative.
Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To make a decision as a referee or umpire.
- The goal was called offside.
› Direct or indirect use of the voice.
Ball games, Cricket, Games, Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports (of a batsman): To shout directions to the other batsman on whether or not they should take a run.
Ball games, Baseball, Cricket, Games, Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports (of a fielder): To shout to other fielders that he intends to take a catch (thus avoiding collisions).
Ball games, Billiards, Games, Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To tell in advance which shot one is attempting.
- Every shot must be called.
Card games, Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Poker, Sports 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.
Card games, Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Poker, Sports 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!
Heading, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
- My partner called two spades.
Sometimes, With for To require, demand.
- He felt called to help the old man.
With into To cause to be verbally subjected to.
- Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.1910, Emerson Hough, “The Gateway, and Some Who Passed”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 29:
- The basis for his conclusion was called into doubt
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:
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences 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.
- Derived terms
130 terms
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