collect call
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of collect call
First recorded in 1965–70
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.
An art project called the Goodbye Line prompts passersby to make a collect call and say goodbye — to a loved one, a pet or maybe a part of themselves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
It has been almost two weeks, and he still will not even answer the phone, possibly a collect call from Stockholm.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2016
In particular, he said a collect call McCullough made from the Rockford post office on the night when Maria disappeared showed that it would have been impossible for McCullough to have abducted the girl.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 5, 2016
The officers allowed her to make a collect call on the coinless cellblock pay phone.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2016
“Operator, I want to make a collect call to Louis Gaither.”
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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.
