INDEX:
1. to speak to someone by telephone
2. to make a telephone call that is paid for by the person you are telephoning
3. to telephone someone again
4. a telephone call
5. someone who is making a telephone call
6. when you use the telephone in order to tell someone something
7. to end a telephone call
8. when a telephone line is busy
9. when you want to leave a message for someone
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ CONTACT
↑ MESSAGE
↑ LETTER
↑ COMPUTERS/INTERNET/EMAIL
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1. to speak to someone by telephone
▷ call /kɔːl/ [intransitive/transitive verb]
▪ To find out more, call 555-1972.
▪ Can you call Becky before six?
▪ She called about twenty minutes ago.
call for
▪ I’ll call for a taxi now.
call round British /around American
call several people or organizations, especially to get information
▪ I called round to see if anyone knew where Tom was.
▪ His secretary started calling around to find out where the commission was meeting.
▷ phone also ring British /fəʊn, rɪŋ/ [intransitive/transitive verb]
▪ I’ll phone you if there’s any news.
▪ Shall I ring Sarah to see if she wants to come out with us?
▪ Did anyone ring while I was out?
▪ Jill phoned to tell you she’ll see you tonight.
phone for
▪ Let’s phone for a pizza tonight.
phone/ring round
British telephone several people or organizations, especially to get information
▪ You’d better ring round some travel agents to get some prices.
▷ telephone /ˈtelɪfəʊn, ˈteləfəʊn/ [intransitive/transitive verb]
to speak to someone by telephone. Telephone is more formal than phone or call, and is used especially in writing :
▪ About five o'clock, a woman telephoned Bernstein.
▪ For details of your nearest tourist office telephone 4127.
▪ Mr Dodd telephoned this morning.
telephone for
▪ Write or telephone for more information.
▷ ring/phone up British /call up American /ˌrɪŋ, ˌfəʊn ˈʌp, ˌkɔːl ˈʌp/ [intransitive/transitive phrasal verb]
to speak to someone by telephone, especially in order to have a friendly conversation with them or to ask for information :
▪ Your uncle rang up about an hour ago.
▪ ‘I don’t know what time the last train is.’ ‘Well, phone up and find out.’
ring/call/phone up somebody
▪ Why don’t you call up Jackie and apologize?
▪ She uses the office phone to phone up her friends in Sweden.
ring/call/phone somebody up
▪ John called him up to make sure of the date of the graduation ceremony.
▪ I might phone him up at home.
▷ give somebody a call also give somebody a ring British /ˌgɪv somebody ə ˈkɔːl, ˌgɪv somebody ə ˈrɪŋ/ [verb phrase] spoken
to speak to someone by telephone - use this especially when you are telling someone that you will telephone them, or when you are asking them to telephone :
▪ Just give me a call if you need anything.
▪ Why don’t I give you a ring later and find out when you’ll be free?
▷ make a call/phone call/telephone call /ˌmeɪk ə ˈkɔːl, ˈfəʊn kɔːl, ˈtelə̇fəʊn ˌkɔːl/ [verb phrase]
to use the telephone to speak to someone :
▪ Diana made a quick call to Munich before the meeting.
▪ There’s a pay phone in the lobby if you need to make a telephone call.
▪ Limit the number of personal phone calls you make at work.
▷ be on the phone /biː ɒn ðə ˈfəʊn/ [verb phrase]
to be speaking to someone on the telephone :
▪ Rosie’s still on the phone.
▪ There’s someone on the phone for you.
be on the phone to
▪ He was on the phone to a friend when he noticed the smoke.
be on the phone with
▪ How long are workers on the phone with customers?
talk/speak on the phone
▪ Marie and I talk on the phone at least once a week.
have somebody on the phone
to have someone calling you
▪ Mr Rogers, I have Anita Payne on the phone for you.
▷ give somebody a buzz/ring informal also give somebody a bell British informal /ˌgɪv somebody ə ˈbʌz, ˈrɪŋ, ˌgɪv somebody ə ˈbel/ [verb phrase]
to telephone someone :
▪ I’ll give Larry a buzz. Maybe he’ll want to go too.
▪ Can you give Mary a bell? She rang earlier.
▪ Give me a ring if you decide you can come.
▷ get through /ˌget ˈθruː/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
to succeed in reaching someone by telephone :
▪ I tried calling my parents, but I couldn’t get through.
get through to
▪ Did you get through to Mr McWhirter?
2. to make a telephone call that is paid for by the person you are telephoning
▷ reverse the charges also call collect American /rɪˌvɜːʳs ðə ˈtʃɑːʳdʒə̇z, ˌkɔːl kəˈlekt/ [verb phrase]
▪ Call collect if you need to.
▪ If something goes wrong, call us and reverse the charges.
call somebody collect
▪ Anyone with information may call Doug Howarth collect at 555-0976.
3. to telephone someone again
▷ call back also ring back British /ˌkɔːl ˈbæk, ˌrɪŋ ˈbæk/ [intransitive/transitive phrasal verb]
to telephone someone again, for example because they were not available when you telephoned them before :
▪ ‘Would you like to leave a message?’ ‘No, that’s okay. I’ll call back later.’
▪ I’m afraid Mr Jones is in a meeting. Could you ring back in about an hour?
call somebody back
▪ ‘Does Jake want me to call him back?’ ‘No, he said to meet him at eight o'clock.’
▷ return a call/phone call/telephone call /rɪˌtɜːʳn ə ˈkɔːl, ˈfəʊn kɔːl, ˈtelə̇fəʊn ˌkɔːl/ [verb phrase]
to telephone someone because they telephoned you before when you were not available - use this especially in business contexts :
▪ Gage did not return phone calls from reporters to his office Monday.
▪ Dr Shapiro is busy right now, but I’ll ask him to return your call when he’s free.
▷ try again /ˌtraɪ əˈgen/ [verb phrase]
to telephone a number again because someone was already speaking on that line when you telephoned before :
▪ I’ve already phoned him twice, but I suppose I’d better try again.
try somebody/a number again
▪ It’s engaged. I’ll try her again later.
4. a telephone call
▷ call/phone call/telephone call /kɔːl, ˈfəʊn kɔːl, ˈtelə̇fəʊn ˌkɔːl/ [countable noun]
▪ We keep getting calls from newspaper reporters.
▪ One phone call to London got her a job interview.
▪ After several telephone calls, detectives traced two witnesses to the accident.
call/phone call/telephone call for
▪ Mr Deckard, there’s a call for you. Will you take it in your office?
long-distance call
to or from someone a long way away
▪ He made several long-distance calls to Hong Kong.
local call
to someone near you
▪ Local calls are free.
5. someone who is making a telephone call
▷ caller /ˈkɔːləʳ/ [countable noun]
someone who is making a telephone call - used especially by people who work with telephones :
▪ Did the caller leave a number?
▪ Hold on please, I have an overseas call for you. Go ahead, caller.
6. when you use the telephone in order to tell someone something
▷ on/over the phone /ɒn, əʊvəʳ ðə ˈfəʊn/ [adverb]
▪ You can buy them by credit card over the phone.
▪ The ticket office told me on the phone that I’d have front-row seats in section D.
▪ I didn’t want to go into details on the phone, so we arranged a meeting in my office for the next day.
▪ Maria started crying over the phone as she told me about it.
▷ by phone/telephone /baɪ ˈfəʊn, ˈtelə̇fəʊn/ [adverb]
if you tell someone something by phone or by telephone, you make a telephone call to tell them it :
▪ The survey questions 500 people a month by phone.
▪ Reservations can be made by telephone, but must be confirmed in writing within seven days.
7. to end a telephone call
▷ hang up /ˌhæŋ ˈʌp/ [intransitive/transitive phrasal verb]
to finish a telephone conversation or stop it before it has finished by putting down the receiver the part of a telephone you speak into :
▪ If a caller is rude, just hang up.
hang up the phone/receiver
▪ I said I’d be right there. I hung up the phone and grabbed my purse and car keys.
hang up on somebody
put the telephone down while someone is still talking
▪ Mitchell was furious and hung up on him.
▷ put the phone down /ˌpʊt ðə ˈfəʊn daʊn/ [verb phrase] especially British
to put down the receiver the part of a telephone you speak into after you have finished talking to someone :
▪ There was a long pause, and she was about to put the phone down when the voice came back again.
▷ slam the phone down/slam down the phone /ˌslæm ðə ˈfəʊn daʊn, ˌslæm daʊn ðə ˈfəʊn/ [verb phrase]
to put the telephone down while someone is still speaking to you, because you are angry :
▪ Call her. The worst thing she could do is slam down the phone.
slam the phone down/slam down the phone on
▪ He tried to talk to her, but she slammed the phone down on him.
▷ get cut off/get disconnected /get ˌkʌt ˈɒf, get ˌdɪskəˈnektə̇d/ [verb phrase]
if you get cut off or get disconnected when you are making a telephone call, the telephone suddenly stops working in the middle of your conversation and you cannot continue :
▪ We got cut off in the middle of the conversation.
▪ I don’t know what happened, we just got disconnected.
▷ ring off /ˌrɪŋ ˈɒf/ [intransitive phrasal verb] British
to end a telephone call :
▪ I suppose I’d better ring off now -- we’ve been on the phone for over an hour.
8. when a telephone line is busy
▷ busy also engaged /ˈbɪzi, ɪnˈgeɪdʒd/ [adjective] British
a telephone line that is busy is already being used by the person that you want to telephone, so you cannot speak to them :
▪ She tried to call Lisa, but the phone was busy.
▪ I called Mom again, but it was still busy.
▪ He tried Nick’s suite again. This time the line was engaged.
▪ Janice’s number is still engaged. She’s been on the phone all morning.
engaged tone British /busy signal
American the sound a telephone makes when the person you are trying to call is already using the telephone
▪ I’ve been trying to call the customer helpline, but all I’m getting is a busy signal.
▷ on hold /ɒn ˈhəʊld/ [adverb]
waiting to speak to someone on the phone who cannot speak to you immediately because they are already speaking to someone else on the telephone :
▪ You’re always on hold for about 10 minutes before you get to talk to anyone.
put somebody on hold
▪ I put Dana on hold while I tried to find Steve.
9. when you want to leave a message for someone
▷ leave a message /ˌliːv ə ˈmesɪdʒ/ [verb phrase]
▪ No, she didn’t leave a message.
leave a message for
▪ Tom left a message for Mike on the answering machine.
▷ can/may I take a message? /ˌkæn, ˌmeɪ aɪ teɪk ə ˈmesɪdʒ/ [verb phrase] spoken
say this on the telephone when you are offering to give a message to someone else :
▪ I’m sorry, Mr. Perry isn’t in yet. May I take a message?
▷ text /tekst/ [transitive verb]
to send a written message from your mobile phone to someone else’s :
▪ My daughter spends nearly all her time either on the phone or texting her friends.
▪ Text me as soon as you get your exam results.
▷ voicemail /ˈvɔɪsmeɪl/ [uncountable noun]
a system on the phone by which you can leave a spoken message for someone :
▪ Hi Jen - I see I’ve reached your voicemail - I’ll try and get back to you later.
▪ I keep my voicemail on most mornings and deal with all my messages in the afternoon.