dinner calln.
/ˈdɪnə kɔːl/, U.S. /ˈdɪnər ˌkɔl/, /ˈdɪnər ˌkɑl/ 1. Originally Military. A sound used to announce that dinner is ready to be served and eaten; spec. a trumpet or bugle call used for this purpose in the army.
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1799 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry (ed. 3) 369 Trumpet duty soundings... 13. Dinner call.—For men, and for officers.
1894 J. H. Rhodes Hist. Battery B ii. 17 At noon dinner call was sounded, and we partook of our rations.
1929 Indiana Mag. Hist. 25 297 Years before, when on the farm, she had given the dinner call by means of blasts on a steer's horn fashioned for the purpose.
2002 J. D. Hardy Acad. Surgeon iv. 99 The officers listened listlessly for the first dinner call.
2. U.S. A formal social call upon the host or hostess of a dinner party, expected from each of the guests in the days or weeks following the event. Now rare.
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1880 Andrews' Amer. Queen 21 Aug. 164/2 No one can trifle with a dinner engagement. And, before leaving a city, make a dinner call.
1889 Social Life xviii. 117 Only one failed to make a dinner call at the appointed time, and he sent an explanation and a box of flowers for me.
1931 San Antonio (Texas) Express 2 Aug. d7 After he has been to dinner, make a dinner call within one week.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1799