Online Encyclopedia

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a co...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 55 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a
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common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)
  , to speak in a loud voice, and particularly to attract some one's attention by a loud utterance . Hence its use for a visit at a house, where the name of the occupier, to whom the visit was made, was called aloud, in early times, to indicate the presence of the visitor . It is thus transferred to a short stay at a place, but usually with the idea of a specific purpose, as in "
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port of call," where
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ships stop in passing . Connected with the idea of summoning by name are such uses as " roll-call " or " call-over," where names are called over and answered by those
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present; similar uses are the " call to the bar," the summoning at an
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Inn of Court of those students qualified to practise as barristers, and the " call within the bar " to the appointment of king's counsel . In the first case the " bar " is that which separates the benchers from the rest of the
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body of members of the Inn, in the other the place in a court of law within which only king's counsel, and formerly serjeants-at-law, are allowed to plead . " Call " is also used with a particular reference to a divine summons, as of the calling of the apostles . It is thus used in
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nonconformist churches of the invitation to serve as minister a particular congregation or
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chapel . It is from this sense of a vocatio or summons that the word " calling " is used, not only of the divine vocation, but of a man's ordinary profession, occupation or business . In card games " call " is used, in
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poker, of the demand that the hand of the highest bettor be exposed or seen, exercised by that player who equals his
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bet; in
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whist or
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bridge, of a certain method of
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play, the " call " for a suit or for trumps on the
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part of one partner, to which the other is expected to
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respond; and in many card games for the naming of a card, irregularly exposed, which is laid face up on the table, and may be thus " called " for, at any point the opponent may choose . " Call " is also a
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term on the
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English and
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American stock exchanges for a contract by which, in consideration of a certain sum, an " option " is given by the person making or
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signing the agreement to another named therein or his order or to
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bearer, to " call " for a specified amount of stock at a certain day for a certain price . A " put," which is the
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reverse of a " call," is the option of selling (putting) stock at a certain day for a certain price . A combined option of either calling or putting is termed a " straddle," and sometimes on the American stock
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exchange a "spread-eagle." (See further STOCK EXCHANGE.) The word is also used, in connexion with joint-stock companies, to signify a demand for instalments due on shares, when the capital of the
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company has not been demanded or " called " up at once .

End of Article: CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)
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