Dictionary

page-turner en · NOUN

Etymology

From page + turner.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) A highly interesting or suspenseful written work that one is compelled to read very rapidly.
   • Her debut novel is such a page-turner that it's one of those books that you can't put down.
   • This is a very fat novel. The first thing you want to do with it is send it to a hospital for one of those crisis diets. Cut out 300 pages and maybe you've got a page-turner that could stand off "The Firm." 1993 January 31, Sidney Zion, “He Died With His Pants Down”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2025:
2. A person who is responsible for turning the pages of another musician’s (especially a pianist or organist’s) sheet music during a performance.
   • She's a famous soloist today, but she did her time as a page-turner, just as many others have done.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see page, turner.

Forms

Relateds

cliffhanger · turn the page · unputdownable

Translations (13)

de Seitenumblätterer (person who turns another musician's pages) · fr tourneuse de pages (person who turns another musician's pages) · pl osoba zmieniająca strony z nutami (person who turns another musician's pages) · pl wciągająca lektura (suspenseful written work) · sv bladvändare (person who turns another musician's pages) · sv bladvändare (suspenseful written work) · de Notenwender (person who turns another musician's pages) · fr tourneur de pages (person who turns another musician's pages) · de Notenumblätterer (person who turns another musician's pages) · it voltapagine (person who turns another musician's pages) · de Pageturner (suspenseful written work) · fi lukunautinto (suspenseful written work) · de Umblätterer (person who turns another musician's pages)