call in

call in (third-person singular simple present calls in, present participle calling in, simple past and past participle called in)

1. (intransitive, copulative) To communicate with a base etc, by telephone.

   I was too unwell to work yesterday so I called in sick.

2. (transitive) To report; communicate (a message) by telephone or similar.

   The hoaxer called in a bomb threat.

3. (intransitive) To pay a short visit.

   Synonyms: pop in, call on

   I'll call in this afternoon to pick up my prescription.

5. (transitive) To summon someone, especially for help or advice.

   Synonym: summon

   Coordinate terms: call over, call up, call down, send in

   The government called in the army to deal with the riots.

   • 1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 533:

     By the latter part of 1848, the throne of Hudson the Railway King who had been called in in 1845 as a superman to save the Eastern Counties Railway, was tottering to its fall, [...].

6. (transitive) To withdraw something from sale or circulation.

   Synonym: recall

• -clinal, clinal, incall