local call
5
1.0
- noun
- /ˈloʊkəl kɔl/
:
llamada local
- Is this a local call or will it cost more to connect?
- make a local call
- unlimited local calls
- just a local call
Examples
-
Doug: When I moved to northern Santa Barbara County in 1983, you could still make a local call by dialing only 5 digits.
Blog text (19) -
So it should cost the equivalent of a local call.
Blog text (25) -
Then I made a local call.
Fiction book (1998) -
All I'm allowed is local calls.
Fiction book (1994) -
And will he support our local calls for Post Office banking hubs?
-
"At that time in Germany, it was very expensive to make any kind of phone call; telephone subscribers were charged for every call made, even local calls.
Fiction book (2002) -
It's a local call.
-
Minutes later, by a row of telephones, I asked another German business type if he'd be so kind as to exchange enough pfennigs for a dollar so I could make a local call.
Fiction book (1995) -
I need to make a local call to my neighbor about the meeting.
-
The phone company offers a plan that includes unlimited local calls every month.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A time when you talk to someone by telephone
57
1.0
A time when you speak with someone by phone
Antonyms
How Distant
11
2.3
5
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a function/procedure call that executes within the same process' is directly compositional: 'local' (within the same area/scope) modifies 'call' (an invocation), so it denotes a call that is local. This simple adjective+noun pattern and the cross-linguistic notion of locality make the technical sense readily inferable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Local call comes from old telephone systems. The word local meant 'near you', so a local call stayed inside the same town instead of going far and cost less, which is why it means 'a phone call made within the local area'.