call the shots

From sports. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “What sport? What shots are called?”)

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call the shots (third-person singular simple present calls the shots, present participle calling the shots, simple past and past participle called the shots)

1. (chiefly US) To make the decisions; to be in charge; to give orders.

   Synonym: call the tune

   • 1994 January 25, Bill Clinton, William Jefferson Clinton's Second State of the Union Address‎:

     In today's health care system, insurance companies call the shots. They pick whom they cover and how they cover them. They can cut off your benefits when you need your coverage the most. They are in charge.

   • 2019 July 4, Michael Sullivan, “In Myanmar, Methamphetamine, Synthetic Drug Production Soars”, in NPR.org‎:

     Myanmar's Shan state, which borders both China and Thailand, is the wild wild east. And in many parts of the state, it's well-armed ethnic militias, not Myanmar's military, who call the shots.

   • 2021 June 22, Ali Vaez, Dina Esfandiary, “The Hard-Liners Won in Iran. That’s Not All Bad News.”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The conventional wisdom in Washington is that Iran’s elections are insignificant. Regardless of who wins, the argument goes, in the end, it’s the supreme leader who calls the shots.

• shot caller

• rule the roost

• Jonathon Green (2024) “call the shots v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang