What does beck and call mean

She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching. After an hour, however, he reached this decision: He would not go to or call up Mrs. Top Definitions Quiz Examples at someone's beck and call. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! Accessed 11 Nov. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of at someone's beck and call. She is at the beck and call of the committee. Then, I will show how the phrase is used in context with sentence examples. Plus, I will show you a helpful memory tool that will make choosing beck and call or beckon call much easier. What does beck and call mean? Beck and call is an idiom that is synonymous with on a whim. Thus, at my beck and call could literally be taken to mean at my wave and shout.

What does beckon call mean? To be at someone's beck and call is to be entirely subservient to them; to be responsive to their slightest request. The word, although it has been in use in English since the 14th century, isn't one that is found outside the phrase 'beck and call' these days.

It is merely a shortened form of 'beckon', which we do still know well and understand to mean 'to signal silently, by a nod or motion of the hand or finger, indicating a request or command'. If the term 'beck and call' had originated prior to the 14th century we would presumably now say 'beckon and call'.