Word.ws English Dictionary

call time

call time verb: to announce the closing of a pub for the day.

Verb

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

  1. (UK) To announce the closing of a pub for the day.
    • Let's have another pint quickly, before the landlord calls time.
  2. (UK) To end something.
    • The boxer is ready to call time on his long career.
    • "I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?"
      "I should say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer."1906, O. Henry, After Twenty Years
  3. To call a timeout.
  4. (US) To indicate that an activity, especially the taking of a test, is complete.
    • The teacher called time, and there were a few groans. (Some children pleaded for more time, another just said it was really hard, and a few others agreed that this was really cool.)2011, Linda Schwartz Green, Diane Casale-Giannola, 40 Active Learning Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom, Grades K–5, Corwin Press, →ISBN, page 104

Noun

call time (plural call times)

  1. (performing arts) The expected time of arrival for participants in a performance event, e.g., a play or concert.
    • The performance starts at 2pm; call time is 11am for crew, noon for musicians.

Forms of call time

Verb
third-person singular presentcalls time
present participlecalling time
past participlecalled time
pastcalled time
Noun
pluralcall times

Questions about call time

What does call time mean?
Call time means to announce the closing of a pub for the day.
What part of speech is call time?
Call time can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of call time?
The past tense of call time is called time.

Words near call time in the dictionary

  1. call the police
  2. call the question
  3. call the shots
  4. call the tune
  5. call them as one sees them
  6. call time
  7. call times
  8. call to
  9. call to account
  10. call to action
  11. call to arms

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: call time (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “call time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/call_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.