crank call

crank call

A phone call that is typically anonymous and done as a joke or prank. The caller's message is usually wacky or makes little sense. Why are we getting so many annoying crank calls all of a sudden?
See also: call, crank
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • crank letter
  • tabbacky
  • wacky-tabbacky
  • wacky-tobacky
  • play a joke (on one)
  • play a joke on
  • be like two peas in a pod
  • crackpot
  • melvin
  • melvins
References in periodicals archive
"It would be wrong for us to vote with our feet on something thatmay be just a crank call.We just don't know.
We have no choice but to play on says Strauss
The brother thought he had been the victim of a crank call and only realised its significance after being told his sister and her children had been found murdered.
Birmingham relatives raised triple killings alarm
Mimicking the want-ad convention of exaggerated abbreviation, he would promote his own work (ANTIQUE, DRAWING DESERT MIX UNDERGROUND STUDIO SESSION IN ORIG FRAME, IN PENCIL, $1200 OR MUSEUM TOUR 310-453-8311) or lampoon elders such as John Baldessari, even going so far as to supply real gallery phone numbers that he would crank call himself, just to make sure his name and business would tie up the lines of the art-world powerful.
Openings: Anthony Burdin
'I thought it was a crank call. But then Robert said simply 'It's me'.
WAR IN IRAQ: DAY 25: OUR BOY IS A SOLDIER NOT A POLICEMAN EXCLUSIVE; Parents fury after son is shot by robbers in Iraq
It had been a crank call but who was to know at the time?
By George, they were two of the Best Britain has ever produced; John Gibson recalls his encounters with two players who attained iconic status
People say it is a hoax call or a crank call, but they tend to have a bit of humour to them.
Wishart has pop at Green; PFA CHIEF IN BLAST AT GREEN
And hours wasted on a crank call could mean the difference between life or death.
Our say
"It would be wrong for us to vote with our feet on something which may be just a crank call. We just do not know.
We must act now - Strauss
She said: "At first I thought it was a crank call. They left a message on my answer phone and because it didn't seem genuine, I didn't call back.
My role in Corrie's crowning glory; TELEVISION: Sarah Jayne supplies tiara to give soap bride Becky a touch of class on big day
Terkel is at his funniest when he recounts a phone conversation with an FBI agent, which he mistook for a crank call. In 1934, the author received his law degree from the University of Chicago, but by this time acting, not the law, was his passion.
Touch and Go: A Memoir
"That way, if someone rings up again, then we will know that it is a crank call. The person who rang up and made this threat is a lily-livered coward and it was a pathetic stunt.
Bomb hoax leaves promoter seething
Radio listeners thought it was a crank call when an amateur clairvoyant contacted a phone-in back in September to predict that Boro would be involved in two Cup finals, win one and be faced with a relegation battle.
BORO FOR THE CUPPA!; That's what Mystic Mo's tealeaves say
Malcolm Harris, who is the Mal Sirrah designer, had thought it was a crank call when Jolie called him last week to order three of his "One Dress" frocks.
Jolie's calls cut twice as designer didn't believe she was the dialer
I can hardly make out what she is whispering and initially think it is a crank call. Eventually I make out that she was meandering around when she spotted Desperate Housewives star Dougray Scott and the gorgeous Alastair Mackenzie from Monarch Of The Glen.
lifestyle: Alison's diary
"This did not appear to be a crank call and the information was felt credible enough to warrant the couple being informed immediately."
Call about missing Madeleine credible, say Spanish police