What it means
A close call is one of those oof moments where disaster nearly clocks you in the face but somehow misses by a whisker. You use it right after a near-miss, a near-accident, or a last-second save, when your nerves are still doing little drum solos and you're already thinking that could've gone so badly.
Usage examples
"The lorry clipped the kerb and missed my bike by inches, mate. Proper close call. I’m walking it the rest of the way."
"Proper close call on the motorway last Tuesday, the van in front braked from sixty to zero, I stopped maybe two metres short of the bumper, and my hands were still shaking when I pulled into the services for a calming cup of tea."
"Close call at the conference, I almost emailed the salary spreadsheet to the entire client list instead of the internal team, spotted my mistake one second before clicking send and went outside for a walk around the block immediately afterwards."
"Mate, that was a close call. I stepped off the curb and that cyclist flew past so near I felt the wind off his jacket."
"Absolute close call at work, I nearly dropped my whole coffee on the manager's laptop and caught the cup with one sad little fingertip."
Where it comes from
This one’s old and solid. Close call is on record in English by the late 1800s for a result that was tight and hard to judge, especially in sport and public contests. Later it stretched into everyday speech for any moment where trouble nearly lands on you but swerves off at the last blink.
Editors of this term
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