callboy
Americannoun
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a boy or man who summons actors, as from their dressing rooms, shortly before they are due to go on stage.
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a bellhop.
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Also call boy a male prostitute who arranges appointments with clients by telephone.
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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.
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
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
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
“Do you know, I have to keep my door locked so as not to be startled by––” The sharp, insistent voice of the callboy broke in on her flow of excuses.
From What's-His-Name by Harrison Fisher
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.
