call

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English [edit]

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 Call on Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Woman making a telephone call.
Call of the osprey (bird).

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English callen, from Old English ceallian (“to call, shout”) and Old Norse kalla (“to call, shout”); both from Proto-Germanic *kalzōną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *gal(o)s-, *glōs-, *golH-so- (“voice, cry”). Cognate with Scots call, caw, ca (“to call, cry, shout”), Dutch kallen (“to chat, talk”), German kallen (“to scream, talk loudly, talk too much”), Swedish kalla (“to call, refer to, beckon”), Norwegian kalle (“to call, name”), Icelandic kalla (“to call, shout, name”), Latin glōria (“fame, honour, glory”), Welsh galw (“to call, demand”), Polish głos (“voice”), Lithuanian gal̃sas (“echo”). More at glory.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

call (plural calls)

  1. A telephone conversation.
    I received several phone calls today.
    I received several calls today.
  2. A social visit.
    I paid a call to a dear friend of mine.
  3. A cry or shout.
    He heard a call from the other side of the room.
  4. A decision or judgement.
    That was a good call.
  5. The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
    That sound is the distinctive call of the cuckoo bird.
  6. A beckoning or summoning.
    I had to yield to the call of the wild.
  7. (finance) An option to buy stock at a specified price during or at a specified time.
  8. (cricket) The act of calling to the other batsman.
  9. (cricket) The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)
  10. A work shift which requires one to be available when requested (see on call).
    • 1978, Alan E. Nourse, The Practice,[1] Harper & Row, ISBN 9780060131944:
      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.”
    • 2007, William D. Bailey, You Will Never Run Out of Jesus, CrossHouse Publishing, ISBN 978-0-929292-24-3:
      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.
    • 2008, Jamal M. Bullocks et al., Plastic Surgery Emergencies: Principles and Techniques, Thieme, ISBN 978-1-58890-670-0, page ix:
      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.
    • 2009, Steven Louis Shelley, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, page 171:
      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.
  11. (computing) The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the point.
  12. 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.
  13. (poker) The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting.

Quotations [edit]

  • 2007, Latina, volume 11, page 101:
    We actually have a call tomorrow, which is a Sunday, right after my bridal shower. I have to make enchiladas for 10 people!

Derived terms [edit]

Terms derived from call (noun)

Translations [edit]

telephone conversation
social visit
cry or shout
characteristic cry of a bird or other animal
beckoning or summoning
(finance): contract to buy stock
(medicine): overnight duty in the hospital
(computing): the act of jumping to a subprogram

Verb [edit]

call (third-person singular simple present calls, present participle calling, simple past and past participle called)

  1. (intransitive) To request, summon, or beckon.
    That person is hurt, call for help!
  2. (intransitive) To cry or shout.
    I can't see you. Call out to me so I can find you.
  3. (transitive, intransitive) To contact by telephone.
    Why don't you call me in the morning?
    Why don't you call tomorrow?
  4. (intransitive) To pay a (social) visit.
    We could always call on a friend.
    The engineer called round whilst you were away.
  5. (intransitive) To stop at a station or port.
    This train calls at Reading, Slough and London Paddington.
    Our cruise ship called at Bristol Harbour.
  6. (transitive) To name or refer to.
    Why don't we dispense with the formalities. Please call me Al.
    1. (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.
  7. (cricket) (of a batsman): To shout directions to the other batsman on whether or not they should take a run.
  8. (baseball, cricket) (of a fielder): To shout to other fielders that he intends to take a catch (thus avoiding collisions.)
  9. (intransitive, poker) To match or equal the amount of poker chips in the pot as the player that bet.
  10. (intransitive, with for) To require, demand.
    This job calls for patience.
  11. (transitive) To state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
    My partner called 2 spades.
  12. (transitive, finance) To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium.
  13. (transitive, banking) To demand repayment of a loan.
  14. (transitive) To predict.
    He called twelve of the last three recessions.
  15. (transitive) To declare in advance.
    The captains call the coin toss.
  16. (transitive, computing) To jump to (another part of a program) to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion.

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Terms derived from the verb "call"

Translations [edit]

to request, summon, or beckon
to cry or shout
to contact by telephone
to pay a social visit
to name or refer to
to be called
to shout directions to the other batsman on whether or not they should take a run
to shout to other fielders that he intends to take a catch thus avoiding collisions
to match or equal the amount of poker chips in the pot as the player that bet
to require, demand
to state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on
to jump to another part of a program
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Statistics [edit]

Scottish Gaelic [edit]

Noun [edit]

call m (genitive calla, plural callaidhean)

  1. Verbal noun of caill.
  2. loss
  3. waste

Derived terms [edit]

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