call the

call (all) the shots

To dictate how a situation or agenda proceeds, as from a position of authority. My staff has to do what I say because I'm the boss, and I call all the shots here! Mom calls the shots for Thanksgiving dinner, so you better get her approval for any dish you want to bring.
See also: call, shot

call the tune

To dictate how a situation or agenda proceeds, as from a position of authority. The phrase is a shortened version of "Who pays the piper calls the tune," which means that the person who pays for something assumes control over it. My staff has to do what I say because I'm the boss, and I call the tune here! Mom calls the tune for Thanksgiving dinner, so you better get her approval for any dish you want to bring.
See also: call, tune
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

call the

shots/tune Informal
To exercise authority; be in charge.
See also: call
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
See also:
References in classic literature ?
They still show the ruins of a city which appears to have been once of note, as the place where she kept her court, and a village which, from its being the place of her birth, they call the land of Saba.
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The rum (for so the landlord chose to call the distillation from malt) had basely taken the advantage of the fatigue which the poor woman had undergone, and had made terrible depredations on her noble faculties, at a time when they were very unable to resist the attack.
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Jackie had been there himself as a QB and I always knew, without even asking, how he felt about play-calling -- "Let the QB call the game!"
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These parallel movements--toward "standard" speech and toward an idealized bourgeois future--conjoin to form what I call the voice-narrative of progress, which operated in a wide variety of black and white texts in the nineteenth century.
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I call the White House press office to make sure my credentials will be waiting for me.
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At Heritage High School, we have our offensive linemen call the blocking pattern for every play.
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