callbackn.
/ˈkɔːlbak/, U.S. /ˈkɔlˌbæk/, /ˈkɑlˌbæk/ 1.
a. Sport. An instance of calling someone back to their initial starting position, esp. after a false start in a race.
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1839 Sporting Rev. Oct. 318 With merely one call-back, and nothing deserving the name of an actual false start, the important ‘go’ was pronounced.
1845 J. Scott Sportsman's Repository 174 A readiness in getting up a false start, and raising a call-back, have been deemed accomplishments in a Jockey.
1897 Logansport (Indiana) Pharos 18 Aug. 8/2 At the word ‘go’ Starter Graffis accidentally touched the bell, and the drivers of Warney Sprague and Amity Ed understanding it to mean a call-back, slowed up and returned to the wire.
1950 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 19 Oct. 23/1 He disputed, among other things, a callback of a 37-yard touchdown sprint.
1995 Philadelphia Inquirer 7 Aug. c 1/5 Devers..shrugged off the annoyance of two false starts and two call-backs to win the women's 100-meter hurdles.
2011 St. George & Sutherland Shire Leader (Austral.) (Nexis) 8 Mar. [He] was responsible for the only call-back or false start for the day, being reprimanded for impeding the start of the last heat of the fourth round in the open men.
b. Originally and chiefly North American. A request for an employee to return to resume work, esp. outside usual working hours or after a (temporary) lay-off.
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1907 Suppl. Typogr. Jrnl. Oct. 73/2 For call-backs, a compositor shall be paid 50 cents, and for the overtime, time and one-half.
1960 N. Hilliard Maori Girl iii. ix. 239 Before the six o'clock call-back he tried to discuss his affairs..over a couple of beers.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 29/8 (advt.) Blood bank technologist... Attractive wages, fringes and working conditions. Call-back and stand-by allowances are good.
2009 Register-Herald (Beckley, W. Va.) (Nexis) 1 Aug. The callback was prompted by a modest improvement in current orders and in the market expectations going forward.
c. Originally U.S. An invitation to return for a second or subsequent audition; (also) an audition of this type.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > (types of) audition > invitation to
callback1958
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > (types of) audition
audition1881
callback1987
1958 Daily Texan (Univ. Texas, Austin) 31 Oct. 9/5 Tuesday will be callbacks by the director.
1978 N.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.
1987 Sunday 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.
2001 Dreamwatch Mar. 27/1 I was surprised to learn that I was auditioning for him—I didn't even know I had the callback!
d. U.S. Esp. in the motor industry: a recall of a product by the manufacturer. Also in extended use.Recall is the more common term (see recall n. 1d).
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1966 Redlands (Calif.) Daily Facts 4 Apr. 2 He said the callback involved ‘several hundred thousand cars’.
1973 Jrnl. 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.
1992 Automotive News (Nexis) 6 Jan. 29 Among the callbacks, Ford recalled 167,247 vehicles searching for 3,056 faulty [air-]bags.
2005 Billboard 10 Dec. 18/2 A costly product callback by the major, which also issued a patch to help remedy the vulnerabilities created by the technology.
2. Originally U.S.
a. A second or subsequent visit to a person's home in order to interview him or her for the purpose of gathering data, either as a follow-up enquiry or because the person was previously absent. Also: a follow-up telephone interview of this nature.Chiefly in the context of sociological or market research or of political polling.
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1890 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 29 June 6/1 City enumerators have very nearly finished their work, and we are now merely ‘raking after’, getting what they know as ‘call backs’.
1941 Public Opinion Q. 5 87/2 Interviewers carried to each callback a record of the respondent's previous answers.
1956 W. E. Albig Mod. Public Opinion iii. xi. 206 If call-backs on the not-at-homes are made, a heavy expense is imposed on the pollers.
1974 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 39 226/1 No call-backs were made to dwelling units where no one appeared to be at home.
1998 Amer. 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, esp. in order to complete a transaction, or to repair or service a previously sold product.
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1896 Insurance Press 18 Nov. 5/4 A steady canvass in a street will bring some business at once, but if the canvassing be done well, the applications secured afterwards by ‘call backs’ will far outnumber those obtained the first day.
1914 H. F. DeBower in R. S. Butler et al. Marketing Methods & Salesmanship ii. vi. 305 The ‘call-back’ is to all intents and purposes a new prospect.
1954 J. 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. He'd look me right in the eye and say the lady had changed her mind or her husband wouldn't let her go through with the buy.
1979 Jrnl. Business 52 433 [He] urged that callbacks for full-term newspaper subscriptions should be limited to those who accepted a trial offer.
1997 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 6 June g6 Any call-backs for servicing of the same problem within the warranty period will only end up costing them money.
3.
a. An instance of returning a person's telephone call; 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. Cf. ringback n. 1.Recorded earliest in attributive use.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > call or message > types of
personal call1843
local call1882
ringback1895
long distance1902
private call1907
trunk-call1910
toll call1912
callback1914
overflow1924
picture message1929
alarm call1966
text message1977
text1990
1914 Z. L. Potter Delinquency & Corrections (Topeka Improvement Survey) 13 A ‘call back’ system was established whereby headquarters rang up the patrolmen, after he hung up the telephone receiver, to insure that he called from the right place.
1920 100% Nov. 27 When a customer waited on an outside phone, we were often forced to promise a ‘call back’.
1960 Times 9 Nov. 16/6 On telephone working alone, Pocket Paging reduces ‘call-backs’ and the need for extra lines and operators.
1972 Financial Times 21 July 10 (advt.) Crossbar switching, push-button dialling, automatic call-back, sequence dialling—let us tell you about these P.A.B.X. facilities.
2003 Which? July 11/3 He was promised a call-back, but the nurse failed to return his call in 90 minutes.
b. Computing. A security feature used by 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. Also: an instance of using this feature. Frequently attributive. Now largely disused.
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society > computing and information technology > [noun] > act of accessing > controlling access
password1965
password protection1971
callback1982
sign-on1984
1982 Computerworld 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.
1996 Demon 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.
2001 Public 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.
c. 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). Frequently attributive, esp. in callback company.A proprietary name in the United States.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone services
answering service1904
information1910
speaking clock1934
talking clock1936
TIM1936
telebus1942
wake-up service1946
subscriber trunk dialling1952
freephone1959
telephone hotline1961
WATS1962
call waiting1963
night line1970
phone-in1970
telephone helpline1970
help-line1980
line1983
Cellnet1984
chat line1984
Vodafone1984
telepoint1987
callback1992
1992 Oil & Gas Jrnl. 27 July 98/2 Once the Callback number is activated, announce that you're ready for a call back by phoning your personal Callback line and hanging up, before it answers. Logos Callback will ring you back in an instant and deliver you a dial tone at U.S. international rates.
1993 Network World 21 June 28/2 AT&T, one of the most vocal opponents of callback, just signed a $21 million three-year deal to provide Viatel with overseas communications services.
1994 Australian 11 Oct. (Brisbane ed.) 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.
2000 Press (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. More fully callback function. A subroutine which can be invoked to handle a specific event in the execution of a program. Also: an instance of a subroutine being so invoked.
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1987 Handling ExposeWindow Events for Nested Windows in comp.windows.x (Usenet newsgroup) 8 Apr. Each window can have a callback function which is called whenever a new event arrives for that window.
1992 UnixWorld Apr. 76/1 The translation between the existing application and the GUI front end must be specified in terms of events and callbacks.
2001 B. R. Hunt et al. Guide to MATLAB viii. 127 Writing callback functions that perform the desired operations when the user selects different features.
2013 R. Reese Understanding & Using C Pointers viii. 189 An event in the function can trigger a call to the callback function.
5. Esp. in comedy or television: a reference to a previous event, scene, joke, etc.Recorded earliest in attributive use.
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1995 Orange County Reg. 21 May (Show section) 9 A callback routine [in the show] involves a character who accessorizes himself to absurd extremes.
1998 J. Sankey Zen & Art Stand-up Comedy ii. 45 Occasionally a comic will make a callback to a joke told by another comic earlier in the evening.
2005 B. Snyder Save Cat 185 Other callbacks are less plot-oriented.., harkening the past to show change or to re-emphasize a joke by reminding us of its origins.
2015 J. Mittell Complex TV ii. 58 On-screen visuals..may contradict or reinforce the characters' actions..or serve as a callback to previous moments.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1839