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

So far, the army has not issued call-up orders for reserve soldiers to bolster mission. —Itay Stern, NPR, 14 Aug. 2025

Moran’s call-up also completes an improbable return to the majors. —Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 12 Aug. 2025

Verb

Ryan Fitzgerald, whom the Twins called up after the trade deadline in early August, and James Outman, acquired for Brock Stewart and called up last weekend, bear a striking resemblance to each other, so much so that the new Twins are often mistaken for each other, even within the clubhouse. —Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 21 Aug. 2025

The takeover and occupation of the largest city in northern Gaza, which Netanyahu said is one of the last Hamas strongholds, will require the military to bring in 60,000 more reserve troops and extend the service of another 20,000, in addition to those already called up. —Ibrahim Dahman, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 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