call-up

1 of 2

noun

ˈkȯl-ˌəp 

1

: an order to report for military service

2

: a baseball player brought up to a major league team from the minor leagues

call up

2 of 2

verb

called up; calling up; calls up

transitive verb

1

: to summon together (as for a united effort)

call up all his forces for the attack

2

: to bring to mind : evoke

3

: to summon before an authority

4

a

: to summon for active military duty

b

: to bring up from a minor league to a major league baseball team

5

: to bring forward for consideration or action

6

: to retrieve from the memory of a computer especially for display and user interaction

Examples of call-up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Ella Morris Regularly touted as a future England stalwart by Spurs’ staff, her first senior England call-up last May was blighted by an ACL injury on the first day of camp. —Megan Feringa, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2026

Utah, which trotted out its own seven-man group containing four G League call-ups, won the matchup of unrecognizable lineups, 147-101. —Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 17 Apr. 2026

Verb

In corresponding moves, left-hander Charlie Barnes and right-hander Yacksel Ríos were called up from Triple-A Iowa and right-hander Vince Velasquez, who threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in Saturday’s loss, was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Ríos. —Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026

The New York Yankees are calling up former top prospect Jasson Domínguez, a league source confirmed to The Athletic on Sunday. —Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1916, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1523, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for call-up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

call-up

noun

ˈkȯ-ˌləp

: an order to report for military service