pager

¹ American  

[pey-jer] / ˈpeɪ dʒər /

noun

1. something, as a book or brochure, having a specified number of pages (usually used in combination).

   Her latest report was a 12-pager.

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pager ² American  

[pey-jer] / ˈpeɪ dʒər /

noun

1. beeper.

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pager British  

/ ˈpeɪdʒə /

noun

1. a small electronic device, capable of receiving short messages; usually carried by people who need to be contacted urgently (e.g. doctors)

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pager Cultural  

1. A wireless device that, when activated, signals the bearer to contact either a predetermined party or the party indicated on the device itself. Often called a beeper for the annoying beeps some pagers use to alert their owner.

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Etymology

Origin of pager¹

First recorded in 1965–70; page ¹ + -er ¹

Origin of pager²

1965–70; page ² ( def. ) + -er ¹

Explanation

A pager is an electronic device that's used for simple communication between two people. Most pagers beep or vibrate when they receive a message. Once cellphones became commonplace, fewer people used pagers, which are a much simpler communication tool. Most pagers can only receive messages, and many of them are only capable of displaying numbers. If you used a pager during their peak of popularity in the 1990s, you would probably have paged your friend the digits of your phone number; your friend would then have called you on the phone. Today, pagers are still used by emergency services for quick communication.

Example Sentences

Looking At Your Pager is an absolute dancefloor monster, that flips a sample of American girl group 3LW onto a gnarly electronic bassline that sounds like a lawnmower devouring a power station.

From BBC • Dec. 30, 2022

Michael Scherer and Tyler Pager contributed to this report.

From Washington Post • Dec. 24, 2022

During the Neuralink presentation, a video showed a monkey named Pager reportedly using a prototype implant in its brain to move a cursor across a computer screen.

From New York Times • Dec. 13, 2022

Isaac Stanley-Becker and Tyler Pager contributed to this report.

From Washington Post • Oct. 7, 2022

Sociologist Devah Pager explains that those sent to prison “are institutionally branded as a particular class of individuals” with major implications for their place and status in society.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• intercom