call

English

/kɔːɫ/, /kɔl/, /kɑɫ/

noun
Definitions
  • A telephone conversation.
  • A short visit, usually for social purposes.
  • (nautical) A visit by a ship or boat to a port.
  • A cry or shout.
  • A decision or judgement.
  • The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
  • A beckoning or summoning.
  • The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor.
  • (finance) An option to buy stock at a specified price during or at a specified time.
  • (cricket) The act of calling to the other batsman.
  • (cricket) The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)
  • A work shift which requires one to be available when requested (see on call).
  • (computing) The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the original point.
  • A statement of a particular state, or rule, made in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
  • (poker) The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting.
  • A note blown on the horn to encourage the dogs in a hunt.
  • (nautical) A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate to summon the sailors to duty.
  • A pipe or other instrument to call birds or animals by imitating their note or cry. A game call.
  • An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
  • (archaic) Vocation; employment; calling.
  • (US) 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.
  • (informal) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English callen inherited from Old English ceallian (shout, call) derived from Old Norse kalla (call, name, shout, refer to as) inherited from Proto-Germanic *kalzōną (call, shout) derived from Proto-Indo-European *gal(o)s-.

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*gal(o)s-

Gloss

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms