calling
nounUK /ˈkɔːlɪŋ/ · US /ˈkɔlɪŋ/
Etymology From Middle English calling, callynge, equivalent to call + -ing.
1
A strong urge (to do some particular thing with or in one's life, for example to become religious, to help the poor, or to be an entertainer).
2
A job or occupation.
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
- Synonyms
- vocation
- Derived terms
- callingly, calling over, calling party, cop-calling, hog calling, playcalling, SELCAL, SelCal