first call

noun

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

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Meanings

nounfirst call (uncountable)
  1. uncountablePriority on the use of somebody or something, especially an actor if required in a production.

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

    2010, Ian Brown, From Tartan to Tartanry: Scottish Culture, History and Myth, page 169
    2 more 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.

    2000, Charles Foster, Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood, page 51

    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.

    2004, Stephen Unwin, So You Want to be a Theatre Director?, page 77
Cite this entry
APA

first call. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20call

MLA

“first call.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20call. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “first call,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20call.

Source: first call on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.