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
At the beginning of “The Rain People,” Natalie makes a collect call to her husband from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, saying she has to get away.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 2, 2017
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
Lydia: On this we certainly agree: That glimpse of Jessa and Shoshanna watching “Scandal” and failing to accept a collect call from Hannah was not nearly enough of the girls for me.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2015
I said, “Not yet. Big Ma hasn’t gotten over the collect call from yesterday. We gotta get up enough dimes to make a real call across the country.”
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.
