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 year is already off to a busy start with her national team call-ups and possibly 2027 will also be busy with a World Cup. —Damian Calhoun, Daily News, 14 Mar. 2026

Guys like Lazaro Estrada and CJ Van Eyk go from future call-ups to potential short-term solutions. —Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026

Verb

For the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, the actor called up a close personal friend to put a look together. —José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026

Further down the lineup, Bo Groulx continued his aggressive run with the Leafs since he was called up from the Marlies on Tuesday. —Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 15 Mar. 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