phone 2 S1 BrE AmE ( also phone up ) verb [intransitive and transitive]
to speak to someone by telephone:
I’ll phone you this evening.
Why didn’t they phone the police?
For information phone 8279–3772.
Stevie phoned to say that he was going to be late.
I kept phoning her up, asking to meet her.
Tell him to phone back (=telephone again at a later time) tomorrow.
► You do not ‘phone to’ someone or ‘phone to’ a number. Phone is followed immediately by a noun or number : She phoned her friend Judy. | Phone 01279–623772 and ask to speak to Elaine.
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THESAURUS
▪ phone to speak to someone by telephone. Phone is more common in British English than American English:
I’ll phone you tomorrow.
▪ call to phone someone. Call is used in both British and American English:
One of the neighbors called the police.
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Call me later.
▪ ring British English spoken to phone someone. Ring is more informal than phone or call :
I can ring her at the office tomorrow.
▪ give somebody a call ( also give somebody a ring ) spoken to phone someone:
If you ever come to Seattle, give me a call.
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I’ll give the hospital a ring and see how he is.
▪ telephone formal to phone someone:
Angry listeners telephoned the BBC to complain.
▪ Skype /skaɪp/ trademark to make a telephone call using special software that allows you to make calls over the Internet:
I Skyped her last night and we spoke for hours.
phone in phrasal verb
1 . to telephone the place where you work, especially in order to report something:
I’ll phone in and let them know.
phone something ↔ in
I’ll phone the report in tomorrow morning.
She phoned in sick (=telephoned to say that she was ill and could not come to work) .
2 . to telephone a radio or television show to give your opinion or ask a question:
There’s still time to phone in before the end of the programme.
⇨ ↑ phone-in