Library / English Dictionary

CALL ON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have recourse to or make an appeal or request for help or information to

Example:

She turned to her relatives for help

Synonyms:

call on; turn

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "call on" is one way to...):

appeal; invoke (request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They call on him to write the letter

Credits

 Context examples: 

Nothing has happened to write about, except a call on Miss Norton, who has a room full of pretty things, and who was very charming, for she showed me all her treasures, and asked me if I would sometimes go with her to lectures and concerts, as her escort, if I enjoyed them.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Here Poole motioned him to stand on one side and listen; while he himself, setting down the candle and making a great and obvious call on his resolution, mounted the steps and knocked with a somewhat uncertain hand on the red baize of the cabinet door.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising suspense said:—"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have to call on you yourself this time, friend John."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“Only go and call on Mrs. Allen!” he repeated.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I have not had a creature call on me since the second week in January, except Charles Hayter, who had been calling much oftener than was welcome.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And I call on you, spirits of the dead, and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to aid and conduct me in my work.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She was happy to see me so happy, and promised to call on Dora's aunts without loss of time.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Dear Emma has been to call on Mrs. and Miss Bates, Mr. Knightley, as I told you before.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And as I come back, I can call on Lady Lucas and Mrs. Long.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Mr. Dashwood attended them down stairs, was introduced to Mrs. Jennings at the door of her carriage, and repeating his hope of being able to call on them the next day, took leave.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)