on call

1. Available if summoned, as in Medical residents are required to be on call at least three nights a week. This expression originated as at call in the late 1500s. Also see at someone's beck and call.

Example Sentences

This was his way of protecting the imagination, of keeping it “on call,” as he once said of his sparse routine in his home in Litchfield County, Conn.: “I’m like a doctor and it’s an emergency room. And I’m the emergency.”

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Now that Argentina is running low on greenbacks, Mr. Bessent is on call.

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“In the lead-up to the election and on Election Day, my office will be on call to provide assistance to the Secretary of State’s Office in enforcing California’s election laws, as needed, through a team of attorneys and administrative staff located across the state.”

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Her boss knows she travels a lot, often as the granny on call.

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He pointed to heated activity for single stocks, such as record-high volume on call options, which give the buyer the right to purchase a specific stock at a specific price and are often seen as a bullish strategy.

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