CALL

Definitions

1. 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. 2. A signal, as on a drum, bugle, trumpet, or pipe, to summon soldiers or sailors to duty.
3. 3. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
4. 4. A requirement or appeal arising from the circumstances of the case; a moral requirement or appeal. Dependence is a perpetual call upon hummanity. Addison. Running into danger without any call of duty. Macaulay.
5. 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. 6. Vocation; employment.
7. 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. 8. A note blown on the horn to encourage the hounds.
9. 9. A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate, to summon the sailors to duty.
10. 10. 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. 11. A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant reguiring or calling for a carresponding object, etc., on the land.
12. 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. 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 artifically 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.