Call (To)

I call God to witness. I solemnly declare that what I state is true.

To call. To invite: as, the trumpet calls.

“If honour calls, whereʹer she points the way,

The sons of honour follow and obey.”

Churchill: The Farewell, stanza 7.

To call [a man] out. To challenge him; to appeal to a man’s honour to come forth and fight a duel.

To call in question. To doubt the truth of a statement; to challenge the truth of a statement. “In dubium vocare.”

To call over the coals. (See Coals.)

To call to account. To demand an explanation; to reprove.

· ·

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.