page

page¹

/payj/, n., v., paged, paging.

n.

1. one side of a leaf of something printed or written, as a book, manuscript, or letter.

2. the entire leaf of such a printed or written thing: He tore out one of the pages.

3. a single sheet of paper for writing.

4. a noteworthy or distinctive event or period: a reign that formed a gloomy page in English history.

5. Print. the type set and arranged for a page.

6. Computers.

a. a relatively small block of main or secondary storage, up to about 1024 words.

b. a block of program instructions or data stored in main or secondary storage.

c. (in word processing) a portion of a document.

7. Computers. See Web page

v.t.

8. to paginate.

9. to turn pages (usu. fol. by through): to page through a book looking for a specific passage.

[1580-90; < MF < L pagina column of writing, akin to pangere to fix, make fast]

page²

/payj/, n., v., paged, paging.

n.

1. a boy servant or attendant.

2. a youth in attendance on a person of rank or, in medieval times, a youth being trained for knighthood.

3. an attendant or employee, usually in uniform, who carries messages, ushers guests, runs errands, etc.

4. a person employed by a legislature to carry messages and run errands for the members, as in the U.S. Congress.

v.t.

5. to summon formally by calling out the name of repeatedly: He had his father paged in the hotel lobby.

6. to summon or alert by electronic pager.

7. to control (an electrical appliance, machine, etc.) remotely by means of an electronic signal.

8. to attend as a page.

[1250-1300; ME (n.) < OF < ?]

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▪ rank

      in medieval Europe, a youth of noble birth who left his home at an early age to serve an apprenticeship in the duties of chivalry in the family of some prince or man of rank. Beginning as assistants to squires who attended knights and their ladies, pages were trained in arms and in the art of heraldry and received instruction in hunting, music, dancing, and such other accomplishments as befitted their social status. Later, pages were promoted to be squires and from that status were frequently advanced to knights (knight).

      In Great Britain (United Kingdom) the duties of the sovereign's pages used to include attendance at royal functions or receptions such as “drawing rooms” and court levees, until these fell into desuetude. Pages still appear—clad in scarlet coats edged with gold lace and with bars of lace across the front, long white waistcoats, white breeches, and white silk hose and wearing three-cornered hats—on occasions such as the opening of Parliament, at which the sovereign's train is carried by two pages, and at coronations, when the earl marshal and all the peers in the procession are attended by pages of honour bearing their coronets. Pages of honour to the sovereign are usually appointed at the age of 12 or 13 and give up their positions at 17. Many of them are later granted commissions in the Household Cavalry or in a regiment of the Guards.

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