call an audible

Verb

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

1. To change the play at the line of scrimmage by yelling out a new one.
2. (US, idiomatic) To change plans at the last minute in response to new information.
   • Mr. Krosnick explained with the help of a football analogy. "If somebody called an audible, we'd be right there[…]It has always been that way. We never did that much planning. All the talk and analysis was intended to outline the parameters of our instincts."1997 October 29, James R. Oestreich, “Juilliard Quartet's Musical Chairs; Sounding Board for the New, Strings Attached to the Old”, in The New York Times
   • "We will be calling audibles every time we come to the line," one participant recalls [Condoleezza Rice] saying to [Bush] then.2001 December 5, Jim Hoagland, “'Calling Audibles'”, in The Washington Post