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.
“They got a phone right there that you get to use, but once again it’s a collect call from a payphone,” Harris, 35, said in an interview.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2020
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
Advocates of reform say that the rates prisoners pay to speak to their families are outrageous, and launched a petition earlier this year to have the FCC look at collect call rates within prisons.
From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2012
Instead, a recording came on the line, saying, “This is a collect call from an inmate at the Massachusetts State Penitentiary...,” before another person chimed in.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
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.
