Meaning of first call | Babel Free

Definitions

Priority on the use of somebody or something, especially an actor if required in a production.

uncountable

Examples

“Fairbanks obviously had the power to dictate because his contract, and an amended one with Griffith, gave him first call⟳ on me as a dentist while Griffith retained first call⟳ on my services as an actor.”

“In these conditions, however, you must be sensitive to the actor's need⟳ to do other work⟳: you've got to let⟳ them go up for auditions and earn⟳ money in other ways, and only the most megalomaniac director thinks that he has 'first call⟳' on his actors' time.”

“Consequently, Harper argues, 'costume film-makers in Britain no longer had first call⟳ on their own⟳ classic novelists. […]”

CEFR level