alarm call

IPA/əˈlɑːm kɔːl/
IPA/əˈlɑːrm kɔːl/

alarm call — noun

1. A service that wakes someone up by ringing their phone at a pre-arranged time, t

1.nounB1
Definition

A service that wakes someone up by ringing their phone at a pre-arranged time, typically offered by a hotel reception or a telephone operator.

Example

The hotel receptionist offered to give me an alarm call at six in the morning.

collocation: give [sb] an alarm call

Linnea requested an alarm call for 5 a.m. to avoid missing her flight to Seoul.

collocation: request an alarm call

Common collocations
  • request an alarm call
  • set an alarm call
  • give someone an alarm call
  • arrange an alarm call
  • early-morning alarm call
Synonyms
  • wake-up call

    more general use; can refer to any call that wakes you, not just one from a hotel

  • morning call

    common in East Asian hotel contexts, but less used in other regions

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Alarm call, wake-up call, and morning call all refer to being woken at a set time, but they differ in context. An alarm call is specifically a phone-based service arranged through a hotel or operator. A wake-up call is broader — it can be any call that wakes you, including a friend phoning to make sure you are up. Morning call is common in East Asian hotels but less used elsewhere. An alarm clock is a device that sits on your bedside table and rings; it is not a service. 'The hotel gave me an alarm call at 6 a.m.' — you would not use alarm clock here because a person, not a machine, is doing the waking.

wake-up callmorning callalarm clock

Etymology

ItalianFrenchEnglishOld Norse

Alarm comes from the old Italian phrase all'arme, meaning 'to arms!' — a cry to prepare for danger. Call comes from Old Norse kalla, meaning 'to shout or cry out'. The compound alarm call entered English hotel vocabulary in the early 1900s, when telephone switchboard operators would phone guests' rooms at a requested time to wake them.