CALL, v.t. [Heb. To hold or restrain.] In a general sense, to drive; to strain or force out sound. Hence,

1. A vocal address, of summons or invitation; as, he will not come at a call.
2. Demand; requisition; public claim; as, listen to the calls of justice or humanity.
3. Divine vocation, or summons; as, the call of Abraham.
4. Invitation; request of a public body or society; as, a clergyman has a call to settle in the ministry.
5. A summons from heaven; impulse. St. Paul believed he had a call, when he persecuted the Christians. – Locke.
6. Authority; command. – Denham.
7. A short visit; as, to make a call; to give one a call; that is, a speaking to; D. kallen. To give one a call, is to stop a moment and speak or say a word; or to have a short conversation with.
8. Vocation; employment. In this sense calling is generally used.
9. A naming; a nomination. – Bacon.
10. Among hunters, a lesson blown on the horn, to comfort the hounds. – Encyc.
11. Among seamen, a whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate, to summon the sailors to their duty. – Encyc.
12. The English name of the mineral called by the Germans Tungsten or Wolfram. – Encyc.
13. Among fowlers, the noise or cry of a fowl, or a pipe to call birds by imitating their voice. – Encyc. Bailey.
14. In legislative bodies, the call of the house, is a calling over the names of the members, to discover who is absent, or for other purpose; a calling of names with a view to obtain answers from the persons named.

1. To utter a loud sound, or to address by name; to utter the name; sometimes with to. The angel of God called to Hagar. – Gen. xxi.
2. To stop, without intention of staying; to make a short stop; as, to call at the inn. This use Johnson supposes to have originated in the custom of denoting one's presence at the door by a call. It is common, in this phrase, to use at; as, to call at the inn; or on, as, to call on a friend. This application seems to be equivalent to speak, D. kallen. Let us speak at this place. To call on, to make a short visit to; also, to solicit payment, or make a demand of a debt. In a theological sense, to pray to or worship; as, to call on the name of the Lord. – Gen. iv. To repeat solemnly. – Dryden. To call out, to utter a loud voice; to bawl; a popular use of the phrase.

1. To name; to denominate or give a name. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. – Gen. i.
2. To convoke; to summon; to direct or order to meet; to assemble by order or public notice; often with together; as, the king called his council together; the president called together the congress.
3. To request to meet or come. He sent his servants to call them that were bidden. Matth xxii.
4. To invite. Because I have called and ye refused. Prov. i.
5. To invite or summon to come or be present; to invite, or collect; as, call all your senses to you.
6. To give notice to come by authority; to command to come; as, call a servant.
7. To proclaim; to name, or publish the name. Nor parish clerk, who calls the psalm so clear. – Gay.
8. To appoint or designate, as for an office, duty or employment. See, I have called by name Bezaleel. – Ex. xxxi. Paul, called to be an apostle. – Rom. i.
9. To invite; to warn; exhort. – Is. xxii. 12. Cruden.
10. To invite or draw into union with Christ; to bring to know, believe and obey the gospel. Rom. viii. 28.
11. To own and acknowledge. Heb. ii. xi.
12. To invoke or appeal to. I call God for a witness. 2 Cor. i.
13. To esteem or account. Is. lviii. 5. Matt. iii. 15. To call down, to invite, or to bring down. To call back, to revoke, or retract; to recall; to summon or bring back. To call for, to demand, require, or claim; as, a crime calls for punishment; or to cause to grow. Ezek. xxxvi. Also, to speak for; to ask; to request; as, to call for a dinner. To call in, to collect; as, to call in debts or money; or to draw from circulation; as, to call in clipped coin; or to summon together; to invite to come together; as, to call in neighbors or friends. To call forth, to bring or summon to action; as, to call forth all the faculties of the mind. To call off, to summon away; to divert; as, to call off the attention; to call off workmen from their employment. To call up, to bring into view or recollection; as, to call up the image of a deceased friend; also, to bring into action, or discussion; as to call up a bill before a legislative body. To call over, to read a list, name by name; to recite separate particulars in order, as a roll of names. To call out, to summon to fight; to challenge; also, to summon into service; as, to call out the militia. To call to mind, to recollect; to revive in memory.

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 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. To make a demand, requirement, or request.
   
   

   They called for rooms, and he showed them one.
   Bunyan.

6. A signal, as on a drum, bugle, trumpet, or pipe, to summon soldiers or sailors to duty.
7. 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.

8. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. Vocation; employment.
    
    
    [In this sense, calling is generally used.]
16. To show or disclose the class, character, or nationality of.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    This speech calls him Spaniard.
    Beau. *** Fl.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. A note blown on the horn to encourage the hounds.
20. To invoke; to appeal to.
    
    

    I call God for a witness.
    2 Cor. i. 23 [Rev. Ver. ]

21. A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate, to summon the sailors to duty.
22. 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. -- 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.

23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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]
26. 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.