"beck and call" meaning in English

See beck and call in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: beckon call [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-|head=beck and call}} beck and call (uncountable)
  1. Summons and control, in a position of servitude or as an attendant. Tags: uncountable Related terms: under one's thumb, wrap around one's little finger Translations (summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant): hoppe og springe for en (Danish), stå på pinde for en (Danish), iemand op zijn wenken bedienen (Dutch), (freie) Verfügung [masculine] (German), egyetlen szavára/füttyentésére (Hungarian), rendelkezésére/szolgálatára áll (english: to be at someone's ~) (Hungarian), lesi minden kívánságát (Hungarian), pöccre (Hungarian), bycie na czyjeś zawołanie [neuter] (Polish), à disposição (Portuguese), на побегу́шках (na pobegúškax) (Russian)
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      "form": "beckon call",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              7,
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          "text": "At his beck and call, he had a small fleet of waiters and servants.",
          "type": "example"
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              47,
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          "ref": "1942 May-June, “Notes and News: L.N.E.R. Traffic Regulating Office”, in Railway Magazine, page 187:",
          "text": "The Traffic Regulating Officer thus has at his beck and call the assistance which he requires in deciding the extent to which restrictions on the acceptance and despatch of traffic are necessary.",
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              35,
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          "ref": "2025 October 15, Virginia Giuffre, “‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’: Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the king’s brother”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "As his employee, I would be at his beck and call, day and night.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Summons and control, in a position of servitude or as an attendant."
      ],
      "id": "en-beck_and_call-en-noun-jnpcNLl5",
      "links": [
        [
          "Summons",
          "summons"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "servitude",
          "servitude"
        ],
        [
          "attendant",
          "attendant"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "under one's thumb"
        },
        {
          "word": "wrap around one's little finger"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "lang_code": "da",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "hoppe og springe for en"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "lang_code": "da",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "stå på pinde for en"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "lang_code": "nl",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "iemand op zijn wenken bedienen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "note": "käsky (e.g. elative)",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "(freie) Verfügung"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "egyetlen szavára/füttyentésére"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "english": "to be at someone's ~",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "translation": "to be at someone's ~",
          "word": "rendelkezésére/szolgálatára áll"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "lesi minden kívánságát"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "pöccre"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "bycie na czyjeś zawołanie"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "à disposição"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "na pobegúškax",
          "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
          "word": "на побегу́шках"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "beck and call"
}
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
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      "word": "under one's thumb"
    },
    {
      "word": "wrap around one's little finger"
    }
  ],
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          "text": "The Traffic Regulating Officer thus has at his beck and call the assistance which he requires in deciding the extent to which restrictions on the acceptance and despatch of traffic are necessary.",
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          "text": "As his employee, I would be at his beck and call, day and night.",
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        "Summons and control, in a position of servitude or as an attendant."
      ],
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          "Summons",
          "summons"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
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          "servitude",
          "servitude"
        ],
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          "attendant",
          "attendant"
        ]
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "lang_code": "da",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "hoppe og springe for en"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "lang_code": "da",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "stå på pinde for en"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "iemand op zijn wenken bedienen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "note": "käsky (e.g. elative)",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "(freie) Verfügung"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "egyetlen szavára/füttyentésére"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "english": "to be at someone's ~",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "translation": "to be at someone's ~",
      "word": "rendelkezésére/szolgálatára áll"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "lesi minden kívánságát"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "pöccre"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "bycie na czyjeś zawołanie"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "à disposição"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "na pobegúškax",
      "sense": "summons and control, in a position as an attendant or servant",
      "word": "на побегу́шках"
    }
  ],
  "word": "beck and call"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.