Meanings
plural ports of call
- nauticalAny port (except its home port) being visited by a ship, especially to load or unload cargo or passengers or to take on supplies.
Serving the flat and fertile south-eastern part of Co. Cork is the railway that runs from Glanmire Road Station in Cork City to the popular seaside resort of Youghal (pronounced "Yawl") and the town of Cobh (pronounced "Cove"), which is Ireland's port of call for transatlantic liners.
1955 May, Walter McGrath and Colm Creedon, “The Cork-Youghal-Cobh Section of C.I.E.”, in Railway Magazine, page 308 - figurativelyA place visited.
My first port of call was the home of an old friend of my mother's, an American woman who'd married a French man.
2002, Phil Cousineau, Robert A Johnson, Coincidence Or Destiny?: Stories of Synchronicity That Illuminate Our Lives
Translations
Dutch aanloophaven
- aanloophavenany port being visited by a ship
Estonian vahesadam
- vahesadamany port being visited by a ship
Finnish määräsatama
- määräsatamaany port being visited by a ship
French escale
- escaleany port being visited by a ship
Hebrew נְמַל פְּקִידָה
- נְמַל פְּקִידָה (nemal pkida)any port being visited by a ship
Indonesian pelabuhan persinggahan
- pelabuhan persinggahanany port being visited by a ship
Italian scalo
- scaloany port being visited by a ship
Norwegian Bokmål anløpshavn
- anløpshavnany port being visited by a ship
Polish port pośredni
- port pośredniany port being visited by a ship
Cite this entry
port of call. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/port%20of%20call
“port of call.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/port%20of%20call. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “port of call,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/port%20of%20call.
Source: port of call on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.