Word.ws English Dictionary

calling someone's number

calling someone's number is the present participle of call someone's number.

Meaning of call someone's number

Verb

call someone's number (third-person singular simple present calls someone's number, present participle calling someone's number, simple past and past participle called someone's number)

  1. To be assigned to carry the ball at the start of a play.
    • So on the first play, I asked the quarterback to call my number on an end sweep.2002, Rich Wolfe, Kurt Warner: And the Last Shall Be First, →ISBN, page 229
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) To focus on someone, asking them to prove themselves.
    • I am glad to have that comment, Sir. I think you have about called our number on that.1969, Annmarie Hauck Walsh, The urban challenge to government
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see call, number.
    • He called her number on his cell phone.2005, Wanjiru Waithaka, The Unbroken Spirit, →ISBN, page 218

Questions about calling someone's number

What is calling someone's number the present participle of?
Calling someone's number is the present participle of call someone's number.

Words near calling someone's number in the dictionary

  1. calling roll
  2. calling round
  3. calling someone every name in the book
  4. calling someone everything but a child of God
  5. calling someone's bluff
  6. calling someone's number
  7. calling station
  8. calling stations
  9. calling the shots
  10. calling the tune
  11. calling them as one sees them

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: calling someone's number (page history and authors); call someone's number (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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