▪ I. calling, vbl. n.
(ˈkɔːlɪŋ)
[f. call v. + -ing1.]
I. The action of the vb. call.
1. The action of emitting a loud voice; crying, shouting, proclamation. Applied also to particular cries of animals. calling on or calling upon: invocation of.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1362 Þurȝ þe cuntre of Caldee his callyng con spryng. c 1340 Cursor M. 19095 (Trin.) Þe callyng on [v.r. on-call] his holy name. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxi. 77 What complayntes, callynges, and lamentacyons. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 38 By the inuocacyon and callyng on the name of Jesu. 1535 Coverdale Ps. v. 1 Heare my wordes (o Lorde), considre my callynge. 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xiii, Bawling of mastiffs..calling of Partridges. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 909 There came so loud a calling of the sea, That all the houses in the haven rang. |
† 2. An addressing; greeting, invitation. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11536 And thanked ioseph..O þair calling and herbergeri. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 46 [He received] thame..With fair calling and hamelie cheresing. |
3. a. The summoning of a person, a meeting.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 58 Callynge or clepynge to mete, invitacio. Ibid. Callynge or clepynge to-gedyr, convocacio. 1580 Baret Alv. C 38 A calling or assembling to⁓gither, conuocatio. 1611 Bible Numb. x. 2 The calling of the assembly. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4) 35 The calling of the said Meeting. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 276 To prevent the calling of a parliament. |
b. The summoning or inviting to a spiritual office or to the pastorate of a church.
| 1578 2nd Bk. Discipline iii, Vocation or calling..is a lawful way, by the which qualified persons are promoted to any spiritual office within the Kirk. 1864 J. M. Duncan Paroch. Eccl. Law Scotl. ii. 72 The presbytery by whose decision and authority the calling and entry of a particular ministry were effected. |
† 4. Naming, denomination; an appellation or name. Obs.
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 772 in Babees Bk. (1868) 169 ‘Colericus’ by callynge. 1530 Palsgr. 202/2 Callyng, namyng, apellance. 1547 Homilies i. Misery of Man. i. (1859) 17 This, our right name, calling, and title, earth. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. Pref. 2 The diuersitie that is vsed in callinge of simples. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 291 Persons also, had their callings..of some note of the body, as Swanshalse, for the whitenesse of her necke. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 245, I am..proud to be Sir Rolands sonne..and would not change that calling. |
5. Loud vituperation, scolding (dial.). calling (of) names: the applying of reviling names or epithets.
| 1687 T. Brown Saints in Upr. Wks. 1730 I. 72 There's such calling of names and giving the lie. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. iv, Such a bandying of words and calling of names. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial., He behaved badly, so I gave him a good calling. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Calling, a scolding. 1885 Nonconf. & Independent 22 Oct. 1019 Caling names was not argument. |
6. The attracting of animals by a particular ‘call’ or cry.
| 1775 R. Chandler Trav. Greece (1825) II. 161 Calling is practised in still weather..The caller applies two of his fingers to his lips, and sucking them..produces a squeaking sound. 1880 Ld. Dunraven in 19th Cent. 641 Moose-calling..consists..in imitating the cry of the animal with a hollow cone made of birch bark, endeavouring by this means to call up a moose near enough to get a shot at him. |
7. Driving. Sc.
| c 1550 Sir J. Balfour Practicks 356 In..calling of his cattel throuch landis pertenand to the defendar. Mod. Sc. Cannie ca'ing. |
8. With various advbs.: see call v. calling-down (orig. U.S.), a rebuke, upbraiding; calling-up (see call v. 35).
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 58 Callynge or clepynge a-ȝene, revocacio. Ibid. Callynge or clepynge yn to a place, invocacio. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Rappel, a calling againe. 1626 Bacon Sylva §316 The calling forth of the Spirits of the Body outward. 1813 Huskisson in Examiner 15 Mar. 166/2 The calling out the Local Militia. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown v, The master..came down in cap and gown to calling-over. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. xiv. 285 A calling-out of many of the higher powers. 1877 Design & Work III. 713/3 For calling-up purposes I have a bell in the bedroom of a very drowsy domestic. 1890 Peel City Guardian 12 July 6/1 The calling up of constables on probation. 1901 G. Ade 40 Mod. Fables 55 He would give the National Administration a sharp Calling Down every few Days. 1902 Electr. & Magn. xviii. 226 (Govt. Milit. Bk.) Calling-up may be done by means of an ordinary bell and battery. 1918 Act 8 Geo. V c. 5 §4 (2) With a view to preventing..the calling up of himself..for any form of military service. 1930 R. Pertwee Pursuit i. xiii. 63 N.C.O.'s and other ranks were within hearing of the calling-down Frost was receiving. 1936 M. Plowman Faith called Pacifism 94 When the calling-up paper comes along again, under the Conscription Act. |
II. Summons, call, vocation.
9. a. The summons, invitation, or impulse of God to salvation or to his service; the inward feeling or conviction of a divine call; the strong impulse to any course of action as the right thing to do.
| [1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. i. 26 Se ȝe ȝoure clepinge, Britheren.] 1534 Tindale, ibid. Brethren, loke on youre callinge. 1535 Coverdale Rom. i. 7 Sayntes by callynge. a 1586 Answ. Cartwright 50 Our dumbe ministers haue as good a calling as the scribes..had. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. Wks. 1738 I. 41 The conscious warrant of some high Calling. 1648 Westm. Assembly's Shorter Catech., Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit. 1811 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 202/2 The doctrine of calling, or inward feeling, is quite orthodox in the English church. 1861 F. Nightingale Nursing 84 What is it to feel a calling for any thing? |
† b. The state of grace and obedience into which the Christian is called; duty. (Here the notion was affected by the next.) Obs.
| 1604 Hieron Wks. I. 482 The state and calling of a true Christian is a louely calling. 1644 Direct. Publ. Worship 10 Callings towards God and men. |
c. In reference to the Christian ministry there is often a mixture of the notions of the divine ‘call’, the vocatio or call of the bishop, presbytery, or church, and the professional ‘calling’ as in 11.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 83 A good pastor, and diligent in his calling. 1575–85 Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 80 Assisted from heaven with all helps necessary for their calling. 1732 Law Serious C. xxiv. (ed. 2) 489 In the exalted virtues of his Apostolical calling. 1855 Prescott Philip II, ii. ix. (1857) 312 The dangerous calling of the missionary. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. i. iii. 28 The duties of his sacred calling. |
d. Requirement of duty; occasion, right; = call n.8
| 1857 Lit. Churchman III. 409 A sprightly American air which has no sort of calling to be a hymn-tune. |
† 10. Position, estate, or station in life; rank. [Founded on 1 Cor. vii. 20, Gr. κλήσει, L. vocatione, where it stands for the condition or position in which one was when called to salvation; but afterwards often mixed up with sense 9, as if it meant the estate in life to which God has called a man.]
| [1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. vii. 20 Eche man in what clepynge he is cleped, in that dwelle he; [1534 Tindale, in the same state wherein he was called; 1539 Cranmer and 1611, in the same callinge, wherin he was called; 1557 Geneva, in the same state wherin he was called; 1582 Rhem., in the vocation that he vvas called.]] a 1555 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 151 We are commanded..to apply ourselves to goodness, every one in his calling. 1575–6 Lansdowne MS. 21 in Thynne's Animadv. (1865) Introd. 52 Righte honorable..presuminge uppon the honor of your callinge. 1590 Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 15 Seeing hee was a Gentleman of some calling, by his traine. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 304 As wel vnto them of the poorer sort, as others of greater calling. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. vi. (1651) 154 As it [Poverty] is esteemed in the worlds censure, it is a most odious calling. 1633 Treas. Hid. Secrets Pref., A Lady of Great calling. 1691 Shadwell Scowrers iv. 376 Men of Calling, knaves of business. |
11. a. Hence, Ordinary occupation, means by which livelihood is earned, business, trade. [Often etymologized in the same way as prec.]
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. To Rdr., As carefull familie shall cease hir cruell callinge, and suffre anie laiser. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 46 They continue in vnlawful callings. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xiv. 413 They who count a calling a prison, shall at last make a prison their calling. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Upr. Wks. 1730 I. 76, I was a ferry-man by my calling. 1768–78 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 488 The appellation given to all common trades and professions, which are termed lawful callings, that is, employments whereto each particular man is called by the courses of nature and fortune, those two ministers of Providence. 1841–4 Emerson Ess. iv. Spir. Laws Wks. (Bohn) I. 68 Our choice of a calling. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 284 A large class of mosstroopers, whose calling was to plunder dwellings and drive away whole herds of cattle. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 203 Navigation, with its many attendant callings. |
b. concr. A body of persons following a particular profession or trade.
| a 1660 Hammond (J.) A caution..not to impose celibacy on whole callings, and great multitudes of men or women. |
III. attrib. and comb. Freq. in the sense ‘visiting’.
| 1814 T. Creevey Let. 14 June (1963) 109, I called on her this morning, and saw some very different names in her calling book from what I had ever seen before. 1848 Bamford Early Days xii. (1859) 118 Another calling house was Schofield's. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford 4 From 12 to 3 are our Calling-hours. 1860 Sat. Rev. IX. 599/1 The calling-house of wits, the gathering-place of poets and connoisseurs. 1877 E. S. Phelps Story of Avis 397 Lest society strike him from her calling-list. 1888 Kipling Plain Tales from Hills 150 [He] put on his calling-clothes and called on the ladies of the Station. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 19 Apr. 6/2 There will be four calling stations. 1896 Daily News 24 Oct. 5/6 A note from him, written by himself on his calling card, placed the matter beyond all doubt. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. 10/2 To ensure regularity in arriving at the various calling ports. |
▪ II. ˈcalling, ppl. a.
[f. call v. + -ing2.]
That calls, cries, summons, etc.: in various senses of the verb.
| 1634 Milton Comus 207 Calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire. 1878 Dickens Dombey x, Joey B., Sir, is not in general a calling man. |
b. spec. in names of some animals: calling crab, a tropical genus of Land-crabs (Gelasimus) having one very large claw, which the animal extends, as if beckoning, but really in menace; calling hare, a rodent genus (Lagomys) nearly allied to the Hare, found in Siberia and other countries, and noted for their peculiar loud sonorous call or note.
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 411 The calling hare. These are solitary animals, and rarely to be seen. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §786 Some of the Land-Crabs are remarkable for the inequality in the size of their claws; the larger is sometimes held up in a beckoning attitude, whence..the name of Calling-Crabs. 1849 Mammalia IV. 162 The dwarf pika or calling-hare. |