roll call

noun

1. the calling of a list of names, as of soldiers or students, for checking attendance.
2. a military signal for this, as one given by a drum.
3. a voting process, especially in the U.S. Congress, in which legislators are called on by name and allowed either to cast their vote or to abstain.

roll call

noun

1. the reading aloud of an official list of names, those present responding when their names are read out
2. the time or signal for such a reading

Word History and Origins

Origin of roll call¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

A little more than a half hour before the game, the Bruins might have felt at home as their student band conducted a pregame roll call.

From Los Angeles Times

But Gaza — marked by decades of bloodshed — is a uniquely volatile addition to the roll call of lands whose sovereignty and assets have come under Trump’s restless eye.

From Los Angeles Times

UCLA’s home arena wasn’t as rowdy as normal, the pregame roll call abandoned with students only starting to trickle back to campus after a recent evacuation in the wake of the Southern California wildfires.

From Los Angeles Times

His front teeth stoved in by a torturer's hammer, he remembers one moment when he believes he heard his brother Mazen's voice answering a roll call in the same jail, but nothing more.

From BBC

Besides the three initial Republican votes against Johnson, another five hard-line conservatives – who have objected to the compromises Johnson has made with Democrats in the past - delayed casting their ballots during the initial roll call.

From BBC