callboy

[ kawl-boi ]

noun
  1. a boy or man who summons actors, as from their dressing rooms, shortly before they are due to go on stage.

  2. a bellhop.

  1. Also call boy . a male prostitute who arranges appointments with clients by telephone.

  2. Also call-boy, call boy .Railroads Slang. a railroad employee responsible for ensuring that members of a train crew are on hand for their regular runs and for notifying them of an extra run.

Origin of callboy

1
First recorded in 1835–45; call + boy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use callboy in a sentence

  • To this day they call boys from Norfolk 'Norfolk Dumplings' in the neighbouring shires.

    George Borrow and His Circle | Clement King Shorter
  • Some carriages stood before the door, and within, around the base of a pillar, sat a circle of idle call-boys.

    The March Family Trilogy, Complete | William Dean Howells
  • Perhaps Mrs. Woffington knew this; but epilogues are stubborn things, and call-boys undeniable.

    Peg Woffington | Charles Reade
  • That morning one of our call boys had turned up missing and that fact also irritated me.

    Danger Signals | John A. Hill and Jasper Ewing Brady
  • We wrote about football, about the management of the lunch-room, about the need of more call-boys in the library.

    Post-Impressions | Simeon Strunsky

British Dictionary definitions for callboy

callboy

/ (ˈkɔːlˌbɔɪ) /


noun
  1. a person who notifies actors when it is time to go on stage

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012