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.
Appeared in the September 29, 2025, print edition as 'Walmart CEO Issues Wake-Up Call on AI'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 27, 2025
He appeared on Broadway in 1961 in “A Call on Kuprin.”
From Seattle Times • May 17, 2024
In the 1939 comedy “Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President,” Hunt, then 22, modeled an elderly character after her family’s housekeeper and a great-aunt in Indiana.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 11, 2022
Call on a travel agent or operator who specializes in responsible tourism, understands the nuances of the nomenclature and has established relationships with trusted travel partners.
From Washington Post • Jul. 14, 2022
“You can escape in the sea, Percy. Call on thy father for help. Maybe you can save the Ophiotaurus.”
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
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.
