page

Less common meanings

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To call someone, either over a public address system or by sending a signal to their pager, so that they respond.

   The receptionist paged Dr. Lewis to the emergency room.

   Airport staff page passengers who have not yet boarded their flight.

   UsageOften page someone to a place: paged Dr. Lewis to the emergency room.

   Similarcall, summon, beep

5. 5
   episodenounfigurativelycountable

   A noteworthy event or episode remembered as part of a larger collective history.

   Like a single chapter that everyone remembers from a much longer story.

   Their championship win wrote a memorable page in the team's long history.

   For the older villagers, the great flood remains a painful page in their shared history.

   UsageOften a page in or from history, with write: wrote a new page in the club's history.

   Similarchapter, episode

   Note

   History imagined as a book, with one episode as one of its pages.

6. 6
   royal attendantnounhistoricalcountable

   A boy or youth employed to attend a person of rank or to run errands and answer the door in a large household.

   The earl took the boy on as a page to school him in courtly manners.

   Pages waited at the high table throughout the long banquet.

   Similarattendant, servant

   Note

   The other page, unrelated to the one in books. It comes from Old French page, perhaps through Italian paggio, from Medieval Latin pagius, "servant", and probably from Greek paidíon, "little boy". Some trace it instead to Latin pagus, "countryside", as if a page were a country lad. The courtly sense is historical, used of boys placed in noble service to be trained. Pageboy is its synonym. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • The servant sense has a different origin from the book sense, which derives from Latin pagina. en.wikipedia.org
   • The proposed derivation is Old French page, possibly through Italian paggio, from Medieval Latin pagius and probably Greek paidíon. en.wiktionary.org
   • An alternative etymology connects the word with Latin pagus and rural service. fr.wiktionary.org
   • Historically, boys served noble households as part of their education and training. en.wikipedia.org
   • Pageboy is a synonym in this sense. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   flip throughverbintransitive

   To turn through several pages of a publication, as when skimming or browsing.

   The student paged through the textbook looking for the right diagram.

   Visitors page through the guest book before signing their names.

   UsageUsually page through: paged through the magazine.

   Similarleaf, flip, thumb, flick, browse

   Note

   The particle does the work here. To page through a magazine is to turn its leaves, often idly, the eye skimming rather than reading. Without through, page a book means numbering its pages, an entirely different job. Through usually follows the verb, and the setting is often a waiting room, a guest book or a search for one diagram.

8. 8
   legislature helpernounCanadaUScountable

   A boy or girl employed to assist and run errands for the members of a legislative body.

   Each summer, the Senate hires teenagers to serve as pages.

   A page delivered the amendment to the clerk's desk before the vote.

   UsageUsually serve as a page in a legislature: a Senate page.

   Similarmessenger, runner

   Note

   A North American use in which the old title still has a public life. US and Canadian legislatures employ pages to carry documents and run errands for members, often students, some on an honorary appointment. Unlike the household and courtly senses, this one explicitly covers girls as well as boys, so it works as a neutral job title. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The historical title page continues in legislative service in the United States. senate.gov
   • US legislatures employ pages to deliver documents and assist members. senate.gov
   • Canadian legislatures employ pages to deliver documents and assist members. ourcommons.ca
   • Legislative pages include girls as well as boys. senate.gov
9. 9
   an alertnouncountable

   A message sent to someone's pager, used to reach them or signal that they should respond.

   A page came through on his beeper just as the meeting ended.

   Woman, why don't you be answering any of my pages?

   1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless

   UsageYou send, answer or ignore a page.

   Similaralert, beep

   Note

   A word from the beeper years that lives on wherever pagers and alerting systems are used, such as hospitals and on-call tech teams. In Stephen King's Needful Things (1991), a County Sheriff cannot afford to ignore his pages. In Clueless (1995) the complaint is that someone is not "answering any of my pages". As both lines show, pages were answered or ignored the way calls are. The noun pairs with the pager verb: to page someone is to send them a page. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Stephen King wrote Needful Things, first published in 1991. en.wikipedia.org
   • The novel's narration describes a County Sheriff as unable to afford to ignore his pages. en.wiktionary.org
   • Clueless was released in 1995. en.wikipedia.org
   • Clueless contains the quoted words, spoken by Murray to Dionne. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    add numbersverbtransitive

    To give each page of a book, manuscript, or similar work a number or other mark.

    Similarpaginate, number

    Note

    A bookmaking verb formed directly from the noun: to page a volume is to give each page its number. Printers also call this supplying folios, since folios are the numbers set on pages. It is easy to confuse with turning pages. The object comes straight after the verb, a book or manuscript, with no through. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The verb page, meaning to number pages, derives directly from the noun page. archive.org
    • To page can mean to supply folios. en.wiktionary.org
    • Folio is a term for a page number. en.wikipedia.org
11. 11
    library workernouncountable

    An employee whose main job is returning checked-out or misplaced materials to their proper shelves.

    The new page reshelved every returned volume before closing time.

    Two pages worked steadily through the overflowing cart of returned materials.

    Similarshelver

12. 12
    memory blocknouncountable

    A block of memory of a fixed length, made up of addresses that sit next to each other.

    The kernel swaps an unused page out to disk to free up space.

    Each page in the system holds four kilobytes of data.

    Note

    Memory divided into equal fixed-length blocks is the operating system's basic unit of management. Each page of virtual memory resident in RAM is mapped onto a physical frame, and an unused page can be moved out to disk and brought back when it is needed. Programmers speak of a page being swapped or paged out, and systems built this way are called paged. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Pages are fixed-length blocks used as basic units of virtual memory management. ibm.com
    • A virtual page resident in RAM is mapped onto a physical frame; a page held in swap need not have a resident physical frame. cdn.kernel.org
    • An inactive page can be moved to disk and brought back when needed. learn.microsoft.com
13. 13
    printing typenouncountable

    The type that has been set up ready for printing a single page.

    The compositor finished the page and carried it to the proofing press.

    One dropped page scattered hundreds of metal letters across the floor.

    Note

    A compositor's word from the age of letterpress. In this sense the page exists in metal before it exists on paper: type, spacing and furniture are locked together and imposed, ready to print one side of a leaf. The printed page is what this one produces. A dropped page, then, means a floor full of scattered letters rather than a lost sheet. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Page is a compositor's term for the type assembled to print a page. en.wiktionary.org
    • In letterpress production, the physical page of type is assembled before printing. en.wikipedia.org
    • Type, spacing and furniture are imposed and locked together for printing. gutenberg.org
    • The assembled page produces the printing on one side of a leaf. en.wiktionary.org
    • Dropping a page of loose type can scatter its letters. mmop.org.au
14. 14
    attend as servantverbtransitive

    To attend and serve someone in the role of a page.

    Similarserve, attend

    Note

    A verb made straight from the noun, and Shakespeare gives it a memorable picture in Timon of Athens: "Will these moist trees … page thy heels". The trees are imagined trailing a man like attendants. The object is the person served, and following close behind is the image the verb carries. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The verb meaning to attend as a page derives directly from the noun page. archive.org
    • The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens, spoken by Apemantus to Timon; its image presents trees as attendants following at his heels. folgerdigitaltexts.org
    • In this sense, page is transitive and means to attend someone as a page. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    noun

    A device such as a band, pin, or snap used to hold the skirt of a woman's dress up off the ground.
16. 16
    noun

    Any of several species of brightly colored South American moths of the genus Urania.
17. 17
    noun

    A track along which pallets of newly molded bricks are conveyed to the hack for drying.