callboy
Americannoun
-
a boy or man who summons actors, as from their dressing rooms, shortly before they are due to go on stage.
-
a bellhop.
-
Also call boy a male prostitute who arranges appointments with clients by telephone.
-
Railroads Slang. Also call-boy, call boy a railroad employee responsible for ensuring that members of a train crew are on hand for their regular runs and for notifying them of an extra run.
noun
Etymology
Origin of callboy
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.
He is a plain, blunt man who started his career as a callboy, vaguely resembles John L. Lewis, is publicly crotchety and privately pleasant.
From Time Magazine Archive
He earned his spending money as a newsboy, a railroad callboy, a freight hustler, a farm hand and a cub reporter on the Bakersfield Californian.
From Time Magazine Archive
White-haired, Illinois-born Railroader Sprague came up the hard way: callboy telegrapher, machinist's apprentice, fireman, etc.
From Time Magazine Archive
Henry Clay French was an orphan who got a job as callboy on the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad in Kansas City back in 1873.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the passage the callboy was yelling at the top of his shrill voice, "They've knocked!"
From Four Short Stories By Emile Zola by Zola, Émile
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.
