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For instance, there's been a couple of words and phrases whose meaning I have been able to intuitively guess, but couldn't find on places like the Oxford Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster, and so on.

e.g - [...] then said it was too close to call before finally calling it for the Texas governor. (Source: History.com)

Meaning: Predicting that the Texas governor would win.

Now I wasn't able to find a matching definition for the word 'Call' on either of the aforementioned dictionaries, nor could I find a phrasal verb or something similar, but of course, I could be wrong.

The point is, should I learn certain words and phrases like this or not?

There are alternatives of course, asking a native speaker what it means, asking for clarification on a website like this, but wouldn't it get tedious? especially since you never know when you might stumble across a word or phrase like this, and because I am scared in general to ask questions like this on the internet.

Oh and by the way, if this is the wrong place to ask let me know please, and I'll remove it.

ColleenV
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FroztC0
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    From Merriam-Webster, you want sense 11 of the verb, in the more definitions section, about three quarters of the way down the page: "to say or guess what the result will be // The election is too close to call." – Jason Bassford Mar 17 '19 at 13:35

1 Answers1

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Oxford Dictionaries sense 7.2 gives:

7.2(with object) Predict the result of (a future event, especially an election or a vote)

‘in the Midlands the race remains too close to call’

‘few pundits risked calling the election for either Bush or Kerry’

The Urban Dictionary gives:

To predict something a while before it happens, and then be credited for it.

"She called it long before I knew where it was going."

This is in origin a sports metaphor, a game is said to be called when an official decision on the victor is announced, and thus by extension one who predicts the official result is said to call it.

As to your more general question, a dictionary definition is not the only way to learn the sense of a word or phrase. You mention some others. in fact you correctly understood the sense by context, although not its origins or perhaps its extent of usage.

Anyone who uses a language and pays attention continues to encounter new meanings and nusages. I am a native speaker of English, and fancy myself to have a wide vocabulary and diction, yet I encounter usages new to me regularly. English tends to have many shades of meaning for common words, often through metaphors long since absorbed into the language.

You should not be hesitant to ask for advice in such situations, either in person or on the net, but you need not feel that you must obtain a dictionary or other authoritative definition of every usage you encounter.

David Siegel
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