Meaning

• A telephone conversation.

  "I received several calls today."

• A short visit, usually for social purposes.

  "I paid a call to a dear friend of mine."

• A visit by a ship or boat to a port.

  "The ship made a call at Southampton."

• A cry or shout.

  "He heard a call from the other side of the room."

• A decision or judgement.

  "That was a good call."

• The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.

  "That sound is the distinctive call of the cuckoo bird."

• A beckoning or summoning.

  "I had to yield to the call of the wild."

• The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor.

  "I give the call to the Manager of Opposition Business."

• An option to buy stock at a specified price during or at a specified time.

• The act of calling to the other batsman.

• The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)

• A work shift which requires one to be available when requested (see on call).

• 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.

  "There was a 20 dollar bet on the table, and my call was 9."

• 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.

• 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.

• Vocation; employment; calling.

• 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.

• (prostitution) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job.

Meaning

• (heading) To use one's voice.

• (heading) To visit.

• (heading) To name, identify or describe.

• (heading) Direct or indirect use of the voice.

• (sometimes with for) To require, demand.

  "He felt called to help the old man."

• To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium.

• To demand repayment of a loan.

• To jump to (another part of a program) to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion.

  "A recursive function is one that calls itself."