call off
to cancel a planned meeting or event
TRANSLATION
call off = absagen --- GOOGLE INDEX call off: approximately 12,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Ad firms CALL OFF $35bn merger deal
(BBC News)
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French Pilots CALL OFF Strike Action
(Wall Street Journal)
(BBC News)
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French Pilots CALL OFF Strike Action
(Wall Street Journal)
Did you
know?
call off
phrasal verb
- cancel an event or agreement
(Oxford Dictionary)
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In the expression "call off," the verb call is used in the sense of ordering, requesting or declaring (Environmentalists called for a stop to the practice of whale hunting). By adding the preposition "off," a phrasal verb is formed that is synonymous with "cancel" (Sue and Tom called off their engagement).
Call off is also used in the idiom "call off the dogs," meaning to stop attacking, criticizing or pressuring someone (Call off the dogs and let the programmers fix the problem).
The verb call stems from the Old English ceallian "to call, shout," and eventually from the Proto-Indo-European "gal," to call, scream, shriek or shout. Gal is also related to the Latin Gallus, cock/rooster (a male chicken) and Gallic (of or relating to France).
The association with France dates back to the Middle Age and is due to the play on words in Latin between Gallus, meaning an inhabitant of Gaul (the ancient area inhabited by the Celts that today roughly equates to Belgium and France) and Gallus, meaning rooster or cockerel.
Its use by the enemies of France dates to this period and originally was a pun to make fun of the French. Interestingly enough, the cockerel eventually became an unofficial national symbol of France.
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SYNONYMS
annul, break off, cancel, discontinue, do away with, end, halt, interrupt, put a stop to, shut down, stop, terminate
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"If it keeps raining, the street festival will have to be called off."
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Thanks to Heidi for suggesting today's word!
phrasal verb
- cancel an event or agreement
(Oxford Dictionary)
---
In the expression "call off," the verb call is used in the sense of ordering, requesting or declaring (Environmentalists called for a stop to the practice of whale hunting). By adding the preposition "off," a phrasal verb is formed that is synonymous with "cancel" (Sue and Tom called off their engagement).
Call off is also used in the idiom "call off the dogs," meaning to stop attacking, criticizing or pressuring someone (Call off the dogs and let the programmers fix the problem).
The verb call stems from the Old English ceallian "to call, shout," and eventually from the Proto-Indo-European "gal," to call, scream, shriek or shout. Gal is also related to the Latin Gallus, cock/rooster (a male chicken) and Gallic (of or relating to France).
The association with France dates back to the Middle Age and is due to the play on words in Latin between Gallus, meaning an inhabitant of Gaul (the ancient area inhabited by the Celts that today roughly equates to Belgium and France) and Gallus, meaning rooster or cockerel.
Its use by the enemies of France dates to this period and originally was a pun to make fun of the French. Interestingly enough, the cockerel eventually became an unofficial national symbol of France.
---
SYNONYMS
annul, break off, cancel, discontinue, do away with, end, halt, interrupt, put a stop to, shut down, stop, terminate
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"If it keeps raining, the street festival will have to be called off."
---
Thanks to Heidi for suggesting today's word!
