| 释义 |
callback, n.
Brit. |ˈkɔːlbak|, U.S. |ˈkɔlˌbæk|, |ˈkɑlˌbæk|
[‹ to call back at call v. Phrasal verbs 2.]
1. orig. U.S.
a. A second or subsequent visit to a person's home in order to interview him or her for the purpose of research, either as a follow-up enquiry or because the person was previously absent. Also: a follow-up telephone interview of this nature.
Principally used in sociological, political, or market research, esp. by pollsters.
1941Public Opinion Q. 5 87/2 Interviewers carried to each callback a record of the respondent's previous answers. 1956W. E. Albig Mod. Public Opinion iii. xi. 206 If some form of area sampling is used.., as in telephone interviews, a proportion of the sample will not be at home... If call-backs on the not-at-homes are made, a heavy expense is imposed on the pollers. 1974Amer. Sociol. Rev. 39 226/1 No call-backs were made to dwelling units where no one appeared to be at home. 1998Amer. Jrnl. Polit. Sci. 42 827 Up to eight call-backs were used, with the proviso that two attempts should not be made on the same day.
b. Business. A return visit to a customer in order to repair or service a previously sold product, esp. when this is covered by an after-sales guarantee; (also) a return visit or telephone call to complete an unfinished transaction.
In many instances it is difficult to distinguish between a return visit to a customer and a telephone call from the customer requesting such a visit.
1954J. Thompson Hell of Woman (1984) xii. 96 The crew manager, this bull artist, would do the call-backs on my orders, and on about two-thirds of 'em he'd give me a can't-confirm. 1976B. Gaddis How to repair Home Appliances iii. 87 This doublecheck procedure will reduce your callbacks. 1979Jrnl. Business 52 433 [He] urged that callbacks for full-term newspaper subscriptions should be limited to those who accepted a trial offer. 1997Calgary Herald (Nexis) 6 June g6 Indeed, it is in their best interest to do so, since any call-backs for servicing of the same problem within the warranty period will only end up costing them money.
2.
a. orig. and chiefly N. Amer. A request for an employee to return to his or her post, esp. outside usual working hours or after a (temporary) lay-off.
1952Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 60 290 A plant is divided into shops for the reckoning of seniority as regards promotion, layoff, and call-back. 1960N. Hilliard Maori Girl iii. ix. 239 Before the six o'clock call-back he tried to discuss his affairs..over a couple of beers. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 29/8 (advt.) Blood bank technologist... Attractive wages, fringes and working conditions. Call-back and stand-by allowances are good. 1998Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. (Nexis) 30 July p3 c, ‘We've called back 35 temporaries in the last two weeks,’ O'Dell said... The callbacks were prompted by new orders for service parts from GM.
b. U.S. Esp. in the motor industry: the recall of a potentially faulty product by the manufacturer, esp. for rectification or to avoid a possible danger to public safety. Also in extended use.
1967Time 2 June 50 Last month alone, automakers announced at least six call-backs involving more than 180,000 cars and trucks. 1973Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 81 493 Along with the ‘callbacks’, as the retractions were called in honor of their automobile antecedents, the learned journals were flooded with statements of ‘errata’ and confessions of error. 1992Automotive News (Nexis) 6 Jan. 29 Among the callbacks, Ford recalled 167,247 vehicles searching for 3,056 faulty [air-]bags; GM recalled 2,166 vehicles to find 1,224 units; Honda recalled 44 vehicles seeking 47 units; and Mazda recalled 2,708 vehicles to find three units.
c. orig. U.S. An invitation to return to a second or subsequent audition; this audition or interview itself.
1978N.Y. Times 29 Mar. c19/4 Dance class..was empty that day..because everyone had gone to Bob Fosse's auditions... I made the callbacks and so I kept on going to see how far I could stay in. 1987Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 13 Sept. 4/3, I was supposed to be doing callbacks for The Man from Atlantis... I could not make myself take that job seriously. 1993D. Coyle Hardball v. ii. 222 He had landed a second audition... Of more than two hundred in the first round, Louis had been one of only twelve to receive a callback. 2001Dreamwatch Mar. 27/1, I was surprised to learn that I was auditioning for him—I didn't even know I had the callback!
3.
a. A telephone call returning one previously made. Also: any of various telephone services whereby a user may be alerted by an automated call to the fact that a previously busy line is free. Freq. attrib.
1960Times 9 Nov. 16/6 On telephone working alone, Pocket Paging reduces ‘call-backs’ and the need for extra lines and operators. 1980Business Week (Nexis) 9 June 80 Mr. Jensen calls Mr. Burkhardt, who is away, so someone takes a callback message. When Burkhardt returns the call, Jensen is in a meeting. 1994Sports Illustr. 22 Aug. 65/1 (advt.) After a long day of phone conferences, cold calls and callbacks, you'd much rather be with the people you care about most. 2002Leicester Mercury (Electronic ed.) 14 Jan. Utilities such as Thames Water and Yorkshire Electricity are solving queue problems by automating callback systems and giving customers a QueueBuster option. They can wait on the line or opt for a callback when they get to the top of the queue.
b. orig. U.S. A telephone service which enables international calls to be made at cheaper rates than those charged in the country from which one is calling, by means of a computerized call return system which opens a line from a country offering such rates (see quot. 1994). Freq. attrib., esp. in callback company.
A proprietary name in the United States.
1992Time 17 Feb. 59/1 Using a patented call-back-conferencing mechanism he describes as ‘telephone arbitrage’..can make the price spread between foreign utility monopolies and deregulated American phone companies work to your advantage. 1994Australian (Brisbane) 11 Oct. 35/5 Customers typically save money by dialling a designated number in the US and hanging up after one ring. A computer from the callback company immediately rings back—a call from the US to Thailand is much cheaper than from Thailand to the US—and allows the customer to dial on anywhere in the US or abroad. 2000Press (Canterbury, N.Z.) (Electronic ed.) 8 Apr. He says he built this into the largest telephone callback company in the world before selling to an American firm. ‘We brought callback to Australia and New Zealand.’
4. Computing.
a. A security feature used for some computer systems accessed remotely by telephone, whereby a user must log on from a previously registered phone number, from which the system then automatically disconnects, then places a return call. Freq. attrib.
1982Computerworld 8 Nov. 79/2 The unit answers all incoming calls to a data base and provides call-back access to those who enter the correct codes from authorized locations. 1984Sunday Times 9 Dec. 15/7 A call-back system preventing hackers from directly entering the computer might be the answer. 1996Demon Despatches Spring 50/2 A callback security feature is available, which requires remote users to give a password when calling in before you can call them back on one of four numbers stored in the modem's non-volatile memory. 2001Public Wks. (Nexis) 1 Sept. 91 Since this restriction [sc. never to go online] is not practical for most of us, other means, like passwords, callbacks, firewalls, encryption, [etc.]..are employed.
b. More fully callback function. A subroutine which can be invoked from a code module, library, etc., to handle a specific process in the execution of a program, or to customize the behaviour of a program (see quot. 1989). Also: an instance of a subroutine being invoked in this way.
1988X Man. Set III. ii. 1 The XtAddCallbacks add the specified list of callbacks to the specified widget's callback list. 1989D. A. Young X Window Systems ii. 33 Some widgets provide hooks that allow applications to define procedures to be called when some widget-specific condition occurs. These hooks are known as callback lists and the application's procedures are known as callback functions, or simply callbacks, because the widget makes a ‘call back’ to the application defined function. 1990DEC Professional Feb. 40/2 The names of the executable callback functions must be bound to their addresses at run time. 1992UnixWorld Apr. 76/1 The translation between the existing application and the GUI front end must be specified in terms of events and callbacks. 2000Electronic Engin. Times (Nexis) 4 Sept. Interprocess communication between the programs is handled by a simple callback mechanism implemented in PtWebClient. |