call

== English == === 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”). === Pronunciation === (UK) (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kôl, IPA(key): /kɔːl/, [kʰoɫ] (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /koːl/ (Scotland) IPA(key): /kɔl/ (MLE) IPA(key): [qʰu] (Northumbria) IPA(key): /kaːl/ (General American) IPA(key): /kɔl/, [kʰɔɫ]; (cot–caught merger) /kɑl/, [kʰɑɫ] (Canada) IPA(key): /kɒl/ (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /koːl/ Homophone: coll (cot–caught merger) Homophone: caw (l-vocalization) Rhymes: -ɔːl === Verb === call (third-person singular simple present calls, present participle calling, simple past and past participle called or (archaic) call'd) (heading) To reach out with one's voice. (intransitive) To request, summon, or beckon. (intransitive) To cry or shout. Synonyms: holler, yell; see also Thesaurus:shout "Supper's ready," called Dad from the kitchen. (transitive) To utter in a loud or distinct voice. (ambitransitive) To contact by telephone. Synonyms: drop a line, ring, get on the horn, give someone a ring, give someone a bell; see also Thesaurus:telephone (transitive) To rouse from sleep; to awaken. Synonyms: wake up; see also Thesaurus:awaken (transitive, jazz) To request that one's band play (a particular tune). (Yorkshire, transitive) To scold. (heading, intransitive) 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). To stop at a station or port. To come to pass; to afflict. (heading) To name, identify, or describe. (ditransitive) To name or refer to. Synonyms: designate, dub, name; see also Thesaurus:denominate (passive voice) Of a person, to have as one's name; of a thing, to have as its name. To state, or estimate, approximately or loosely; to characterize without strict regard to fact. (transitive) To claim the existence of some malfeasance; to denounce as. (obsolete) To disclose the class or character of; to identify. (heading) To declare, or declare in favor of, a predicted or actual result. (transitive) To declare in advance. (transitive) To predict. Synonyms: augur, foretell; see also Thesaurus:predict (transitive) To formally recognise a death: especially to announce and record the time, place and fact of a person’s death. To declare (an effort or project) to be a failure. (sports) To make a decision as a referee or umpire. (heading, sports) Direct or indirect use of the voice. (cricket) (of a batsman): To shout directions to the other batsman on whether or not they should take a run. (baseball, cricket) (of a fielder): To shout to other fielders that he intends to take a catch (thus avoiding collisions). (billiards) To tell in advance which shot one is attempting. Synonyms: name, nominate; see also Thesaurus:specify (intransitive, poker) To equal the same amount that other players are currently betting. (intransitive, poker, 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.) (transitive) To state, or invoke a rule, in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on. (transitive, sometimes with for) To require, demand. (transitive, with into) To cause to be verbally subjected to. (transitive, colloquial) To lay claim to an object or role which is up for grabs. (transitive, finance) To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium. (transitive, banking) To demand repayment of a loan. (transitive, computing) To jump to (another part of a program); to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion. ==== Usage notes ==== In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb call had the form callest, and had calledst for its past tense. Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form calleth was used. The sense of naming an object, as with the phrase it’s called a(n), is intended to humiliate a listener when the object is known to be familiar: ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== → Kashubian: kolowac (United States) ==== Translations ==== === Noun === call (countable and uncountable, plural calls) A cry or shout. The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal. A beckoning or summoning. A telephone conversation; a phone call. An instance of calling someone on the telephone. A short visit, usually for social purposes. (nautical) A visit by a ship or boat to a port. A decision or judgement. The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor. (finance) Ellipsis of call option. (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.) (uncountable) A work shift which requires one to be available when requested, i.e. 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, law) 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, slang, prostitution) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job. (law) A lawyer who was called to the bar (became licensed as a lawyer) in a specified year. (in negative constructions) Need; necessity. ==== Hyponyms ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== → Armenian: քոլ (kʻol) → Georgian: ქოლი (koli) ==== Translations ==== == Albanian == === Etymology === A truncation of callok. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈt͡saɫ] === Adjective === call (feminine calle) (regional) inapt, unuseful, naive Synonyms: papërshtatshëm, paaftë, axhami === References === == Catalan == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈkaʎ] === Etymology 1 === Inherited from Latin callis (“alley, narrow street, passageway”). Compare Spanish calle (“street”). ==== Noun ==== call m (plural calls) passageway ===== Related terms ===== encallar === Etymology 2 === Inherited from Latin callum. ==== Noun ==== call m (uncountable) corn ===== Derived terms ===== call de la mà callera === Etymology 3 === Borrowed from Hebrew קָהָל (qahál, “assembly, synagogue”). ==== Noun ==== call m (plural calls) Jewish quarter Synonym: jueria === Further reading === Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “call”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan) “call”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026 “call”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007 == Chinese == === Etymology === From English call. === Pronunciation === === Noun === call (chiefly Hong Kong Cantonese) radio call; phone call (Classifier: 個／个 c) (Hong Kong Cantonese) summoning of people (ACG) Wotagei === Verb === call (chiefly Hong Kong Cantonese) to call (with mobile phones, pagers, beepers, etc.) call車／call车 [Cantonese] ― ko1 ce1 [Jyutping] ― to call a vehicle, especially a taxi or a van 有事就call我。 [Cantonese] ― jau5 si6 zau6 ko1 ngo5. [Jyutping] ― Call me if something happens. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to summon people === Derived terms === === References === English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese == Irish == === Etymology 1 === (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) ==== Alternative forms ==== cál ==== Noun ==== call m (genitive singular call) call, need claim, right ===== Declension ===== ===== Derived terms ===== gan chall (“needlessly”) === Etymology 2 === ==== Pronunciation ==== (Ulster) IPA(key): /kal̪ˠ/ ==== Noun ==== call m (genitive singular caill) Ulster form of coll (“hazel”) ===== Declension ===== === Mutation === === Further reading === Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “call”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “call”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm “call”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026 Quiggin, E. C. (1906), A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 79 == Portuguese == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English call. === Pronunciation === Hyphenation: call === Noun === call m or f (plural calls) (Internet slang) a call (audio or video conversation) Synonym: chamada === Further reading === “call”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2026 == Scottish Gaelic == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /kʰaul̪ˠ/ === Noun === call m (genitive singular calla, plural callaidhean) verbal noun of caill loss waste ==== Derived terms ==== call cumhachd === Mutation === == Welsh == === Etymology === From Middle Welsh call, from Proto-Brythonic *kall (compare Cornish cal), possibly a borrowing from Vulgar Latin *caldus, from Latin callidus (“wise, clever; cunning”) (and if so, doublet of caled (“hard”)). === Pronunciation === (North Wales) IPA(key): /kaɬ/ (South Wales) IPA(key): /ka(ː)ɬ/ Rhymes: -aɬ === Adjective === call (feminine singular call, plural call, equative called, comparative callach, superlative callaf) wise, sensible, rational Synonyms: doeth, deallus ==== Derived terms ==== angall (“foolish, unwise”) callineb (“wisdom, rationality”) callio (“to become wise, to wise up”) hanner call (“half-witted, crazy”) === Mutation === === Further reading === R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “call”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies