toll call
1
4.9
- noun
- /toʊl kɔl/
:
llamada de larga distancia
- And no, I don't accept toll calls from your jail at 4 dollars a minute.
Examples
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During our trip, we had to make a toll call to inform our family about our arrival time.
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He lived in Westwood, so it was a toll call and there'd be a record of it.
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This is a toll call.
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A local toll call was 10 cents.
Blog text (1) -
A Grand Jury subpoena was served on the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company... directing them to furnish a record of all toll calls... made from the telephones of suspects from April 1 to April 10.
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If you want to reach her, you will need to make a toll call since she lives in another state.
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While traveling, I realized that my phone plan did not cover toll calls, which could be costly.
Synonyms
46
3.2
A phone call to a place far away that costs extra
11
2.3
A phone conversation with someone in another area that costs extra
1
9.8
A phone call to a place outside your local area that usually costs more
How Distant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'toll' (a fee) combined with 'call' (a telephone contact) yields a straightforward compositional meaning: a call that incurs a fee. This follows normal noun+noun compounding and is cross-linguistically transparent (many languages mark paid/charged calls similarly), so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
Toll call The noun toll call comes from the idea of a road toll. A 'toll' is a small fee to pass a bridge, so a toll call was a telephone call that went far and needed an extra fee, which is why it means a 'long-distance' call that costs more.