at someone's beck and call
Always ready serving
At someone's beck and call means ready to respond instantly to their wishes or commands.
The phrase implies constant availability and subservience—being summoned at will: She refused to be at his beck and call anymore.
Beck is an archaic word for a summoning gesture, surviving almost exclusively in this expression.
- obedientFollowing commands willingly
- yes manUncritical agreeable subordinate
- servantOne employed to serve
- personal assistantHired organizational helper
- submissiveReadily yielding to control
dutiful · do one's bidding · loyal · waiting · on call · command · summon · doormat · subservient · slave · devoted · attentive · run errands · whim · errand · lackey · servile · bow and scrape
at someone's beck and callindependent
Free from external control
autonomous · self-governing · free · self-sufficient · self-directed
at someone's beck and callcalling the shots
Being the one deciding
in charge · in the driver's seat · running the show · in control · master
at someone's beck and callunavailable
Cannot be accessed
inaccessible · unreachable · aloof · unresponsive · off the grid
beckon, beckoned, beckoning, beckons, recall, recalled, recalling, recalls