call on
Idioms-
Also, call upon.
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Make a request, ask for, choose, as in We are calling upon you to run for chairman , or The teacher called on Joe to answer . [c. 1400]
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Pay a brief visit, as in The salesman said he'd call on me in the morning . Shakespeare had this usage in Antony and Cleopatra (1:4): “I'll call upon you ere you go to bed.” [Late 1500s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
More than 100 people filled the auditorium at the air district’s headquarters in Diamond Bar to call on the hearing board to adopt these measures and help alleviate the nauseating smells.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
The vote proved too close to call on Tuesday evening, but by Wednesday morning, El-Sayed had claimed the win, and Stevens had phoned him to concede.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
"We call on them to act without delay: release Ahmed Al-Doush and allow him to return home."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
During the chain’s earnings call on Wednesday, Chief Financial Officer Adam Rymer said traffic over that time slowed by “about 200 basis points,” or around 2%.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
The rule was first come, first served, and there had been another call on the border collie.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
