Definition of: "clarion call" with explanation and origin

Definition of: clarion call with explanation and origin? Meaning of clarion call with examples in English idiom dictionary.

English	English

Definition of: "clarion call" with explanation and origin

clarion call

clarion call
also, clarion’s call

Meaning

• A clarion is a high-pitch bugle.
• A strong and clear request for people to do something.
• In a literal sense, the call to battle is issued by such an instrument. 
• Used in the figurative sense, a call to take up a task or pursue a project.
• The idiom metaphorically ascribes the characteristics of a bugle to a spoken command or statement, indicating that it was issued loudly and clearly. 
• A statement, command, or other assertion that is unambiguous in its meaning and application. 

Example Sentences

1. All of the citizens heard the clarion call and prepared themselves to defend their city. 
2. None of the board members could ignore the clarion-call of the chairman’s directive. 
3. When I heard that my mother had decided not to go to the party, I issued a clarion call to my brothers and sisters; subsequently, they convinced her to attend.
4. The clarion call for additional donations from social leaders has elicited a swift reaction.

Origin

The term ‘clarion’ comes from the Latin term ‘clario’, which denotes a trumpet (this, in turn, is related to the Latin ‘clarus’, which means clear and bright). In the mediaeval period, clarions were distinctly smaller and higher-pitched instruments than trumpets. In The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387–1400), Geoffrey Chaucer references a clarion in a list of instruments used to initiate battle (see the first tale, titled, The Knight’s Tale).

The idiomatic expression is often said to have arisen early in the 19th century. However, it can be traced to at least as early as 1787. In a lyrical poem published that year, titled, ‘Ode for the New Year,’ Warton and Parsons wrote:

In rough magnificence array’d
When ancient Chivalry display’d
The pomp of her heroic games;
And crested chiefs, and tissued dames,
Assembles, at the clarion’s call, 
In some proud castle’s high-arch’d hall…

See The Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1787, p. 68.

The Origins of clarion call

English

Related Dictionary

• English Definition & Meaning Dictionary
• English Idioms and phrases Dictionary
• Dictionnaire Français
• Dictionnaire d'expressions idiomatiques et de phrases en français

Read more

• Definition of "break one’s back" in English?
• Definition of "blank check" in English?
• Definition of "not have a clue" in English?
• Definition of "not all it’s cracked up to be" in English?
• Definition of "a quick buck" in English?
• Definition of "keep one’s own counsel" in English?
• Definition of "sacred cow" in English?
• Definition of "come to grief" in English?
• Definition of "make a clean breast" in English?
• Definition of "bone to pick" in English?
• Definition of "from cradle to grave" in English?
• Definition of "cross paths" in English?
• Definition of "clarion call" in English?
• Definition of "cover one’s tracks" in English?
• Definition of "child’s play" in English?
• Definition of "class act" in English?
• Definition of "cakewalk" in English?
• Definition of "the other side of the coin" in English?
• Definition of "cross swords" in English?
• Definition of "hit the sack" in English?

English Idioms and phrases

An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below). By another definition, an idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.[3] For example, an English speaker would understand the phrase "kick the bucket" to mean "to die" – and also to actually kick a bucket. Furthermore, they would understand when each meaning is being used in context.

To evoke the desired effect in the listener, idioms require a precise replication of the phrase: not even articles can be used interchangeably (e.g. "kick a bucket" only retains the literal meaning of the phrase but not the idiomatic meaning).

Idioms should not be confused with other figures of speech such as metaphors, which evoke an image by use of implicit comparisons (e.g., "the man of steel"); similes, which evoke an image by use of explicit comparisons (e.g., "faster than a speeding bullet"); or hyperbole, which exaggerates an image beyond truthfulness (e.g., "more powerful than a locomotive"). Idioms are also not to be confused with proverbs, which are simple sayings that express a truth based on common sense or practical experience.