Callers is the plural form of caller, a noun that refers to individuals or entities that make or initiate a call. The term has several distinct meanings across different contexts.
Principal Meanings
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Telecommunications: A party who originates a telephone call. In telephony, the caller (also called the calling party) is the person who initiates a communication session. This is the most common usage of the term.
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Dance: In square dancing and round dancing, a caller is a person who calls out dance figures and sequences to guide participants through the performance.
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Social visits: A caller can refer to a person who pays a short social visit.
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Software/Computing: In programming, a caller is a software program, function, or procedure that invokes or calls a subroutine, function, or method.
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Radio/Television: In broadcasting, callers are members of the public who phone into a radio or television program, often to participate in discussions or request songs.
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Courtship (historical): The term "gentlemen callers" historically referred to men visiting a woman for courtship purposes.
Etymology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun caller has 12 listed meanings, two of which are considered obsolete. The word derives from the verb to call, with the agent suffix -er.
Usage Notes
The term "callers" appears broadly in both everyday language (e.g., "callers to the radio show") and specialized technical contexts (e.g., "unknown callers identified by caller ID"). It is a standard, well-documented English word rather than a specialized technical term with a single narrow definition.
