Looking to call man earlier (7)
I believe the answer is:
leering
'looking' is the definition.
(leering is a kind of looking)
'call man earlier' is the wordplay.
'call' becomes 'ring' (telephone call).
'man' becomes 'lee' (Lee is an example).
'earlier' says to put letters next to each other.
'ring' after 'lee' is 'LEERING'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for leering that I've seen before include "Looking suggestively" , "Ogling" , "Gazing lasciviously" , "appearing lascivious" , "giving the glad eye" .)