pager

¹ American  

[pay-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  

[pay-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

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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

See Examples For:

pager

The 22-year-old accessed the hospital while wearing medical scrubs, NHS branded clothing, a stethoscope and a pager.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

Israel’s agents even arranged for the pager to be bargain-priced.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Every five or 15 minutes, another pager returned to the host stand, blinking and vibrating in the hands of a customer whose table was finally ready.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

But the hype got the attention of Wall Street and every business leader who didn’t want to be seen like they were running a pager company in 1999.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

She gave me three phone numbers: her father; her oldest brother, Lawrence; and her brother David Jr.’s pager.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

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