call names

Old English namian “to name, call; nominate, appoint,” from source of name (n.). Related: Named; naming.

Verbally abuse someone, use offensive epithets, as in The teacher told the children to stop calling names. This idiom was first recorded in the late 1600s but Shakespeare used a similar expression earlier in Richard III (1:3): “That thou hadst called me all these bitter names.”

In addition to the idioms beginning with name

• name after
• name is mud, one’s
• name names
• name of the game, the
• name the day

also see:

• call names
• clear one’s name
• drop names
• give a bad name
• go by (the name of)
• handle to one’s name
• in name only
• in the name of
• make a name for oneself
• on a first-name basis
• take someone’s name in vain
• to one’s name
• worthy of the name
• you name it