I think syntax-quote wouldn't work... I need it available at runtime

probably doesn't exist OOTB because for an arbitrary form the answer could be broken (in form of let shadowing)... it doesn't matter for my use case ns-resolve seems handy here

user=> (ns a.b (:require [clojure.string :as str])) nil a.b=> (macroexpand-1 (str/lower-case "ABC"))` (clojure.string/lower-case "ABC")

No need for macroexpand there - the quoting is processed by the reader. @U45T93RA6 And I'm not sure you mean by "available at runtime". What's the problem that needs solving?

syntax-quote (as in the snippet above) is a compile-time affordance. I was seeking something I can invoke against unknown inputs

> What's the problem that needs solving? appreciate the intent however in this case I explained quite precisely the problem at hand :)

So instead of println you actually have something like (def my-symbol 'println)? Or perhaps that whole quoted form is just a list that's available only in run time.

> Or perhaps that whole quoted form is just a list that's available only in run time. (edited) exactly

Right, seems like you have indeed found your answer then. And if you do end up needing access to let bindings, I think you can write a macro that utilizes &env.