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Call
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A cry or shout. countable, uncountable
"He heard a call from the other side of the room."
- 2 Initialism of computer-assisted language learning. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 3 the option to buy a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date wordnet
- 4 The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal. countable, uncountable
"That sound is the distinctive call of the cuckoo bird."
- 5 (sports) the decision made by an umpire or referee wordnet
Show 34 more definitions
- 6 A beckoning or summoning. countable, uncountable
"I had to yield to the call of the wild."
- 7 a visit in an official or professional capacity wordnet
- 8 A telephone conversation; a phone call. countable, uncountable
"I received several phone calls today."
- 9 a brief social visit wordnet
- 10 An instance of calling someone on the telephone. countable, uncountable
"I made a call to Jim, but he didn’t answer."
- 11 a special disposition (as if from a divine source) to pursue a particular course wordnet
- 12 A short visit, usually for social purposes. countable, uncountable
"I paid a call to a dear friend of mine."
- 13 a method of contacting a person by phone wordnet
- 14 A visit by a ship or boat to a port. countable, uncountable
"The ship made a call at Southampton."
- 15 an instruction that interrupts the program being executed wordnet
- 16 A decision or judgement. countable, uncountable
"That was a good call."
- 17 the characteristic sound produced by a bird wordnet
- 18 The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor. countable, uncountable
"The Prime Minister has the call."
- 19 a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition wordnet
- 20 Ellipsis of call option. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
- 21 a request wordnet
- 22 The act of calling to the other batsman. countable, uncountable
- 23 a demand wordnet
- 24 The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.) countable, uncountable
- 25 a demand for a show of hands in a card game wordnet
- 26 A work shift which requires one to be available when requested, i.e. on call. uncountable
"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.”"
- 27 a demand by a broker that a customer deposit enough to bring their margin up to the minimum requirement wordnet
- 28 The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the original point. countable, uncountable
- 29 A statement of a particular state, or rule, made in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on. countable, uncountable
"There was a 20 dollar bet on the table, and my call was 9."
- 30 The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting. countable, uncountable
- 31 A note blown on the horn to encourage the dogs in a hunt. countable, uncountable
- 32 A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate to summon the sailors to duty. countable, uncountable
- 33 A pipe or other instrument to call birds or animals by imitating their note or cry. A game call. countable, uncountable
- 34 An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor. countable, uncountable
- 35 Vocation; employment; calling. archaic, countable, uncountable
- 36 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. US, countable, uncountable
- 37 A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job. countable, informal, slang, uncountable
""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."
- 38 A lawyer who was called to the bar (became licensed as a lawyer) in a specified year. countable, uncountable
"The work was done by two lawyers, one a 1983 call and the other a 2010 call."
- 39 Need; necessity. countable, uncountable
"There's no call for that kind of bad language!"
- 1 To reach out with one's voice.; To request, summon, or beckon. intransitive
"That person is hurt; call for help!"
- 2 rouse somebody from sleep with a call wordnet
- 3 To reach out with one's voice.; To cry or shout. intransitive
""Supper's ready," called Dad from the kitchen."
- 4 consider or regard as being wordnet
- 5 To reach out with one's voice.; To utter in a loud or distinct voice. transitive
"to call the roll of a military company"
Show 55 more definitions
- 6 challenge the sincerity or truthfulness of wordnet
- 7 To reach out with one's voice.; To contact by telephone. ambitransitive
"Why don’t you call me in the morning?"
- 8 utter in a loud voice or announce wordnet
- 9 To reach out with one's voice.; To rouse from sleep; to awaken. transitive
"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."
- 10 order, summon, or request for a specific duty or activity, work, role wordnet
- 11 To reach out with one's voice.; To request that one's band play (a particular tune). transitive
"They called I Got Rhythm, and turned to me again for a solo, and I said what?"
- 12 order or request or give a command for wordnet
- 13 To reach out with one's voice.; To scold. Yorkshire, transitive
"CALL 1 scold"
- 14 lure by imitating the characteristic call of an animal wordnet
- 15 To visit.; To pay a (social) visit (often used with "on", "round", or "at"; used by salespeople with "again" to invite customers to come again). intransitive
"We could always call on a friend."
- 16 get or try to get into communication (with someone) by telephone wordnet
- 17 To visit.; To stop at a station or port. intransitive
"This train calls at Reading, Slough and London Paddington."
- 18 order, request, or command to come wordnet
- 19 To visit.; To come to pass; to afflict. intransitive
"They say your love will surely fade, girl, / When things go wrong and trouble calls."
- 20 declare in the capacity of an umpire or referee wordnet
- 21 To name, identify, or describe.; To name or refer to. ditransitive
"Why don’t we dispense with the formalities? Please call me Al."
- 22 challenge (somebody) to make good on a statement; charge with or censure for an offense wordnet
- 23 To name, identify, or describe.; Of a person, to have as one's name; of a thing, to have as its name.
"I’m called John."
- 24 present for redemption before maturation wordnet
- 25 To name, identify, or describe.; To state, or estimate, approximately or loosely; to characterize without strict regard to fact.
"They call the distance ten miles."
- 26 utter a sudden loud cry wordnet
- 27 To name, identify, or describe.; To claim the existence of some malfeasance; to denounce as. transitive
"I call bullshit."
- 28 make a prediction about; tell in advance wordnet
- 29 To name, identify, or describe.; To disclose the class or character of; to identify. obsolete
"This ſpeech calls him Spaniard, being nothing but / A large inventory of his own commendations."
- 30 ascribe a quality to or give a name of a common noun that reflects a quality wordnet
- 31 To declare, or declare in favor of, a predicted or actual result.; To declare in advance. transitive
"The captains call the coin toss."
- 32 utter a characteristic note or cry wordnet
- 33 To declare, or declare in favor of, a predicted or actual result.; To predict. transitive
"He called twelve of the last three recessions."
- 34 assign a specified (usually proper) name to wordnet
- 35 To declare, or declare in favor of, a predicted or actual result.; To formally recognise a death: especially to announce and record the time, place and fact of a person’s death. transitive
"“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."
- 36 send a message or attempt to reach someone by radio, phone, etc.; make a signal to in order to transmit a message wordnet
- 37 To declare, or declare in favor of, a predicted or actual result.; To declare (an effort or project) to be a failure.
"After the third massive failure, John called the whole initiative."
- 38 read aloud to check for omissions or absentees wordnet
- 39 To declare, or declare in favor of, a predicted or actual result.; To make a decision as a referee or umpire.
"The goal was called offside."
- 40 indicate a decision in regard to wordnet
- 41 Direct or indirect use of the voice.; (of a batsman): To shout directions to the other batsman on whether or not they should take a run.
- 42 give the calls (to the dancers) for a square dance wordnet
- 43 Direct or indirect use of the voice.; (of a fielder): To shout to other fielders that he intends to take a catch (thus avoiding collisions).
- 44 make a demand, as for a card or a suit or a show of hands wordnet
- 45 Direct or indirect use of the voice.; To tell in advance which shot one is attempting.
"Every shot must be called."
- 46 demand payment of (a loan) wordnet
- 47 Direct or indirect use of the voice.; To equal the same amount that other players are currently betting. intransitive
"I bet $800 and Jane raised to $1600. My options: call (match her $1600 bet), reraise, or fold."
- 48 call a meeting; invite or command to meet wordnet
- 49 Direct or indirect use of the voice.; 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.) intransitive, proscribed
"I’ll call your 300, and raise to 600!"
- 50 pay a brief visit wordnet
- 51 Direct or indirect use of the voice.; To state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on. transitive
"My partner called two spades."
- 52 make a stop in a harbour wordnet
- 53 To require, demand. sometimes, transitive
"He felt called to help the old man."
- 54 greet, as with a prescribed form, title, or name wordnet
- 55 To cause to be verbally subjected to. transitive
"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."
- 56 stop or postpone because of adverse conditions, such as bad weather wordnet
- 57 To lay claim to an object or role which is up for grabs. colloquial, transitive
"I call the comfy chair!"
- 58 To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium. transitive
- 59 To demand repayment of a loan. transitive
- 60 To jump to (another part of a program); to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion. transitive
"A recursive function is one that calls itself."
Etymology
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”).
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”).
* As an Irish surname, shortened from McCall. * As an English surname, from the noun caul (“kind of headdress or cap”). * Also as an English surname, from Middle English calwe (“bald”). * Also as an English surname, from a Middle English derivative of Latin caulae (“sheepfold”). * As a Catalan surname, from the noun call (“narrow track”), from Latin callis (“path”). Compare Calle. * As a German surname, Americanized from Koll, Goll.
See also for "call"
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