Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Call?

\Call\ (k[add]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Called} (k[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Calling}] [OE. callen, AS. ceallian; akin to Icel. & Sw. kalla, Dan. kalde, D. kallen to talk, prate, OHG. kall[=o]n to call; cf. Gr. ghry`ein to speak, sing, Skr. gar to praise. Cf. {Garrulous}.] 1. To command or request to come or be present; to summon; as, to call a servant. Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain --Shak. 2. To summon to the discharge of a particular duty; to designate for an office, or employment, especially of a religious character; -- often used of a divine summons; as, to be called to the ministry; sometimes, to invite; as, to call a minister to be the pastor of a church. Paul . . . called to be an apostle --Rom. i. 1. The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. --Acts xiii. 2. 3. To invite or command to meet; to convoke; -- often with together; as, the President called Congress together; to appoint and summon; as, to call a meeting of the Board of Aldermen. Now call we our high court of Parliament. --Shak. 4. To give name to; to name; to address, or speak of, by a specifed name. If you would but call me Rosalind. --Shak. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. --Gen. i. 5. 5. To regard or characterize as of a certain kind; to denominate; to designate. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. --Acts x. 15. 6. To state, or estimate, approximately or loosely; to characterize without strict regard to fact; as, they call the distance ten miles; he called it a full day's work. [The] army is called seven hundred thousand men. --Brougham. 7. To show or disclose the class, character, or nationality of. [Obs.] This speech calls him Spaniard. --Beau. & Fl. 8. To utter in a loud or distinct voice; -- often with off; as, to call, or call off, the items of an account; to call the roll of a military company. No parish clerk who calls the psalm so clear. --Gay. 9. To invoke; to appeal to. I call God for a witness. --2 Cor. i. 23 [Rev. Ver. ] 10. To rouse from sleep; to awaken. If thou canst awake by four o' the clock. I prithee call me. Sleep hath seized me wholly. --Shak. {To call a bond}, to give notice that the amount of the bond will be paid. {To call a party} (Law), to cry aloud his name in open court, and command him to come in and perform some duty requiring his presence at the time on pain of what may befall him. {To call back}, to revoke or retract; to recall; to summon back. {To call down}, to pray for, as blessing or curses. {To call forth}, to bring or summon to action; as, to call forth all the faculties of the mind. {To call in}, (a) To collect; as, to call in debts or money; ar to withdraw from cirulation; as, to call in uncurrent coin. (b) To summon to one's side; to invite to come together; as, to call in neighbors. {To call (any one) names}, to apply contemptuous names (to any one). {To call off}, to summon away; to divert; as, to call off the attention; to call off workmen from their employment. {To call out}. (a) To summon to fight; to challenge. (b) To summon into service; as, to call out the militia. {To call over}, to recite separate particulars in order, as a roll of names. {To call to account}, to demand explanation of. {To call to mind}, to recollect; to revive in memory. {To call to order}, to request to come to order; as: (a) A public meeting, when opening it for business. (b) A person, when he is transgressing the rules of debate. {To call to the bar}, to admit to practice in courts of law. {To call up}. (a) To bring into view or recollection; as to call up the image of deceased friend. (b) To bring into action or discussion; to demand the consideration of; as, to call up a bill before a legislative body. Syn: To name; denominate; invite; bid; summon; convoke; assemble; collect; exhort; warn; proclaim; invoke; appeal to; designate. Usage: {To Call}, {Convoke}, {Summon}. Call is the generic term; as, to call a public meeting. To convoke is to require the assembling of some organized body of men by an act of authority; as, the king convoked Parliament. To summon is to require attendance by an act more or less stringent anthority; as, to summon a witness.
\Call\, v. i. 1. To speak in loud voice; to cry out; to address by name; -- sometimes with to. You must call to the nurse. --Shak. The angel of God called to Hagar. --Gen. xxi. 17. 2. To make a demand, requirement, or request. They called for rooms, and he showed them one. --Bunyan. 3. To make a brief visit; also, to stop at some place designated, as for orders. He ordered her to call at the house once a week. --Temple. {To call for} (a) To demand; to require; as, a crime calls for punishment; a survey, grant, or deed calls for the metes and bounds, or the quantity of land, etc., which it describes. (b) To give an order for; to request. ``Whenever the coach stopped, the sailor called for more ale.'' --Marryat. {To call on}, {To call upon}, (a) To make a short visit to; as, call on a friend. (b) To appeal to; to invite; to request earnestly; as, to call upon a person to make a speech. (c) To solicit payment, or make a demand, of a debt. (d) To invoke or play to; to worship; as, to call upon God. {To call out} To call or utter loudly; to brawl.
\Call\, n. 1. The act of calling; -- usually with the voice, but often otherwise, as by signs, the sound of some instrument, or by writing; a summons; an entreaty; an invitation; as, a call for help; the bugle's call. ``Call of the trumpet.'' --Shak. I rose as at thy call, but found thee not. --Milton. 2. A signal, as on a drum, bugle, trumpet, or pipe, to summon soldiers or sailors to duty. 3. (Eccl.) An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor. 4. A requirement or appeal arising from the circumstances of the case; a moral requirement or appeal. Dependence is a perpetual call upon humanity. --Addison. Running into danger without any call of duty. --Macaulay. 5. A divine vocation or summons. St. Paul himself believed he did well, and that he had a call to it, when he persecuted the Christians. --Locke. 6. Vocation; employment. Note: [In this sense, calling is generally used.] 7. A short visit; as, to make a call on a neighbor; also, the daily coming of a tradesman to solicit orders. The baker's punctual call. --Cowper. 8. (Hunting) A note blown on the horn to encourage the hounds. 9. (Naut.) A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate, to summon the sailors to duty. 10. (Fowling) The cry of a bird; also a noise or cry in imitation of a bird; or a pipe to call birds by imitating their note or cry. 11. (Amer. Land 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. 12. The privilege to demand the delivery of stock, grain, or any commodity, at a fixed, price, at or within a certain time agreed on. [Brokers' Cant] 13. See {Assessment}, 4. {At call}, or {On call}, liable to be demanded at any moment without previous notice; as money on deposit. {Call bird}, a bird taught to allure others into a snare. {Call boy} (a) A boy who calls the actors in a theater; a boy who transmits the orders of the captain of a vessel to the engineer, helmsman, etc. (b) A waiting boy who answers a cal, or cames at the ringing of a bell; a bell boy. {Call note}, the note naturally used by the male bird to call the female. It is artificially applied by birdcatchers as a decoy. --Latham. {Call of the house} (Legislative Bodies), a calling over the names of members, to discover who is absent, or for other purposes; a calling of names with a view to obtaining the ayes and noes from the persons named. {Call to the bar}, admission to practice in the courts.