call waiting
12
2.6
- noun
- Specialized
:
llamada en espera
- If you enable call waiting, you won't miss any important calls while you're already on the line.
- call waiting caller
- call waiting beep
- call waiting ID
Examples
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But you have call waiting.
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You have a call waiting on line...
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No one's phone is busy anymore with call waiting.
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I have a call waiting.
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You have a call waiting.
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Seriously, though, I hate call waiting.
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Do you have call waiting?
-
The call waiting immediately kicked in.
Fiction book (2000) -
Could you hold on a second? I've got call waiting.
Fiction book (1996) -
And then the call waiting beeps and it's Josh.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun combines 'call' (telephone contact) with 'waiting' (being held or pending) so a learner can infer it refers to an incoming telephone call that is held/alerted while another call is in progress. This is a compositional, head-modifier construction common in telephony vocabulary and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will likely understand it.
Etymology
Call waiting comes from the simple image of a call that is waiting for you. When you are on the phone, a small beep tells you another 'caller' is waiting, so you can 'answer' the 'second call' without ending the first.