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

The manager also made mention of Alex Freeman, who started at right wingback; and Cristian Roldan, who played 90 minutes in midfield one week after being on vacation and receiving a late call-up to the squad for his first USMNT opportunity since the 2023 Gold Cup. —Henry Bushnell, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2025

Pawol, who has been a minor league umpire since 2016, is in a rotation of Triple-A call-up umpires who work major league games. —Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 9 Sep. 2025

Verb

First baseman Blaine Crim, called up from Triple-A Albuquerque before the game, hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning. —Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 13 Sep. 2025

The Athletics’ offense came by way of three solo homers, including two into center field by Carlos Cortes, who the team called up from the minor leagues earlier this year. —Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 12 Sep. 2025

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