call
kɔːl
Call is not naming — it is throwing a sound across until it lands
The picture A sound leaves your mouth, arcs across the air, and lands squarely on someone over there. Tell sets content into their hands; call only throws the sound that turns them toward you.
Where the picture shows up in call
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a name crossing and landing
Someone is calling your name outside.
ˈsʌmwʌn ɪz ˈkɔːlɪŋ jʊr neɪm ˌaʊtˈsaɪd
Someone outside is shouting for you.
A name thrown from outside the door crosses over and taps you on the shoulder.
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a sound crossing down a line
I will call you right after lunch.
aɪ wɪl kɔːl juː raɪt ˈæftər lʌntʃ
I will ring you straight after lunch.
The sound leaves the handset, runs along the wire, and rings the phone on a far desk.
A person straight after call means you are phoning that person.
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the sound sticking as a label
Everyone here calls him Tony.
ˈevriwʌn hɪr kɔːlz hɪm ˈtoʊni
Round here he is Tony to everybody.
A thrown name stays stuck to his chest like a name badge.
Call + person + name is the shape where the name has stuck fast.
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a sound that brings a vehicle
Should I call an ambulance?
ʃʊd aɪ kɔːl ən ˈæmbjələns
Shall I send for an ambulance?
A sound shouted into a phone drags a siren all the way to the front door.
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a sound that gathers people
The manager called a meeting for nine.
ðə ˈmænɪdʒər kɔːld ə ˈmiːtɪŋ fɔːr naɪn
The boss has put a meeting in at nine.
One sentence spreads across the office and pulls everyone into the room at nine.
All of it in one picture
Call is a sound that crosses and lands. Let a name land and someone is being called; send the same sound down a wire and it is a phone call; let it stick and everyone calls him Tony. Let the sound reach far enough to bring a vehicle and you have called an ambulance, and let it gather a whole office at nine and you have called a meeting.