call

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To telephone someone.

   I'll call you when I get home.

2. 2
   noun

   A conversation on the telephone.

   I got several anonymous calls last night.

3. 3
   noun

   A short visit, especially a professional one.

   The doctor made a call on the sick child.

4. 4
   noun

   A decision made by a referee or umpire in sport.

   The players argued angrily about the referee's call.

Multiword verbs with call

• call off Phrasal verb A1

  to cancel an event or arrangement that was planned

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Call is recorded in Old English and comes from an Old Norse root. Recall, meaning “call back,” did not appear until the late 16th century.

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”)…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary