to call off
1
8.0
- phrasal verb
- Jargon
:
anunciar las figuras
- Before the dance competition, the instructor will call off the moves for each couple.
Examples
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At the start of the square dance, the caller will call off the steps in a clear voice.
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Call off the bomb!
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After we get the money, we'll call him off.
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But if you give us the money and it comes back clean, we'll call him off.
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We would actually prefer calling him off.
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Tails, we call the whole thing off, turn the boat around, go home.
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Maybe she should donate to C & L so you and your boys will call off the heat.
Blog text (25) -
The teacher calls off the architectural style of each house, like a birdwatcher showing off.
Fiction book (1992) -
The project calls for squaring off the intersection and adding a traffic light.
Blog text (13) -
Call off the fuckin' bomb!
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To make a loud sound to get attention
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to cancel or postpone' is connected to the particle off (indicating removal/cessation) combined with call, but it relies on the phrasal-verb pattern rather than straightforward compositional logic. A B1 learner who knows both words might guess the general idea, but the specific cancellation sense depends on experience with English phrasal verbs, so it is not fully predictable.
Etymology
Call off comes from square dancing, where a 'caller' says each movement out loud. The caller calls the steps off so everyone knows what to do, so call off means 'to announce the dance steps'.