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recall

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beyond recall

Impossible to change, reverse, retrieve, or restore. The union is immovable on the issue, so it looks like a workers' strike is beyond recall now. Your truck's engine is completely shot; I'm afraid it's beyond recall at this point.

See also: beyond, recall

recall someone from something

to call someone back from something or some place. The president recalled our ambassador from the war-torn country. I was recalled from retirement to help out at the office.

See also: recall

recall someone or something from something

to remember someone or something from some event or some place. I recall someone by that name from my days at the university. Mary recalled the appropriate fact from her history studies.

See also: recall

recall something to mind

to cause [someone] to remember something. The events of the day recall similar days in the past to mind. This book recalls a similar book published some years ago to mind.

See also: mind, recall

recall something to someone

to bring something to the mind of someone. Your comments recall another event to me—something that happened years ago. What you just said recalled an old saying to me.

See also: recall

word (once) spoken is past recalling

Prov. Once you have said something, you cannot undo the result of having said it. Hilary apologized for having called Mark's suit cheap, but Mark was still offended. A word once spoken is past recalling.

See also: past, recall, spoken, word

beyond recall

Irreversible, irretrievable, as in We can't repair this screen-it's beyond recall, or It's too late to cancel our plans-they're beyond recall. This idiom employs recall in the sense of revoking or annulling something. [Mid-1600s]

See also: beyond, recall