Call n.
 1. The act of calling; -- usually with the voice, but often otherwise, as by signs, the sound of some instrument, or by writing; a summons; an entreaty; an invitation; as, a call for help; the bugle's call. “Call of the trumpet.”
    I rose as at thy call, but found thee not.   --Milton.
 2. A signal, as on a drum, bugle, trumpet, or pipe, to summon soldiers or sailors to duty.
 3. Eccl. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
 4. A requirement or appeal arising from the circumstances of the case; a moral requirement or appeal.
    Dependence is a perpetual call upon humanity.   --Addison.
    Running into danger without any call of duty.   --Macaulay.
 5. A divine vocation or summons.
    St. Paul himself believed he did well, and that he had a call to it, when he persecuted the Christians.   --Locke.
 6. Vocation; employment.
 Note: [In this sense, calling is generally used.]
 7. A short visit; as, to make a call on a neighbor; also, the daily coming of a tradesman to solicit orders.
    The baker's punctual call.   --Cowper.
 8. Hunting A note blown on the horn to encourage the hounds.
 9. Naut. A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate, to summon the sailors to duty.
 10. Fowling The cry of a bird; also a noise or cry in imitation of a bird; or a pipe to call birds by imitating their note or cry.
 11. Amer. Land Law A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant requiring or calling for a corresponding object, etc., on the land.
 12. The privilege to demand the delivery of stock, grain, or any commodity, at a fixed, price, at or within a certain time agreed on. [Brokers' Cant]
 13. See Assessment, 4.
 At call, or On call, liable to be demanded at any moment without previous notice; as money on deposit.
 Call bird, a bird taught to allure others into a snare.
 Call boy (a) A boy who calls the actors in a theater; a boy who transmits the orders of the captain of a vessel to the engineer, helmsman, etc. (b) A waiting boy who answers a cal, or cames at the ringing of a bell; a bell boy.
 Call note, the note naturally used by the male bird to call the female. It is artificially applied by birdcatchers as a decoy. --Latham.
 Call of the house Legislative Bodies, a calling over the names of members, to discover who is absent, or for other purposes; a calling of names with a view to obtaining the ayes and noes from the persons named.
 Call to the bar, admission to practice in the courts.

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