close call, too close to call

close call Also, close shave.
Narrow escape, near miss.

For example, That skier just missed the tree--what a close call, or That was a close shave, nearly leaving your passport behind.

The first phrase dates from the late 1800s and comes from sports, alluding to an official's decision ( call) that could have gone either way. The second, from the early 1800s, alludes to the narrow margin between closely shaved skin and a razor cut.

(This latter usage replaced the much earlier equation of a close shave with miserliness, based on the idea that a close shave by a barber meant one would not have to spend money on another shave quite so soon.) Also see too close for comfort.

參考:

too close to call

Resulting in too narrow a margin to make a decision, as in That ball didn't miss by much but it was too close to call, or The election was too close to call, so they decided to have a runoff.
This expression comes from sports, where call has signified "a judgment" since the mid-1600s. In the 1960s it began to be applied to pre-election polls and then to the outcome of elections.

Close call at Toyota swim center

01/07/2008

Pieces of the ceiling that fell Sunday morning are scattered in and around a swimming pool in the second basement of Toyota Stadium, in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture.

Close call at Toyota swim center(TOSHIYUKI TAKEYA/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)

A section of plasterboard measuring 20 meters by 4 meters dropped from the ceiling just five minutes prior to the pool's opening. No injuries were reported. At around 8:55 a.m., a staff member heard a loud noise coming from the pool and saw that a small part of the ceiling had fallen. Moments later, a larger portion dropped.

Three swimmers were waiting for the pool to open.

"If this had happened during business hours, it would have been a major accident. We deeply regret that we failed to check the ceiling sufficiently," an official of Toyota city, which runs the pool, said.(IHT/Asahi: January 7,2008)