Who's there?

Who's there?

Who is the person whom I am unable to see at the moment? "Who's there?" Billy stammered out fearfully, hearing what sounded like whispers in the dark. "Yes? Who's there?" I called out in response to the knocking.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Who's there?

 and Who is it?
a question asking who is on the other side of a door or concealed in some other place. Hearing a noise, Tom called out in the darkness, "Who's there?" Hearing a knock on the door, Mary went to the door and said, "Who is it?"
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • be afraid of (one's) (own) shadow
  • be frightened of (one's) (own) shadow
  • be frightened/nervous/scared of your own shadow
  • be nervous of (one's) (own) shadow
  • be scared of (one's) (own) shadow
  • frightened of (one's) (own) shadow
  • stammer out
  • oh
  • bother with
  • bother with (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
May 20-22 Who's there? Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Cerys Matthews, Hayseed Dixie, Fish, Fairport Convention, Nik Kershaw, John Parr...
May 28-29 Who's there? Echo, OCD, Profoundly Blue, Powerbeat and Wildwood Why go?
June 3-5 Who's there? The Charlatans, The Waterboys, Cornershop, The Bluetones, Ian Anderson, Eddi Reader, The Christians, Robyn Hitchcock, The Wurzels...
June 24-26 Who's there? Alan Barnes Quartet, Jive Aces, Lamarotte, New Orleans Heat, Bob Kerr and his Whoopee Band, Fat Sams Band, Bev Pegg & His Good Time Jazz Gang Why go?
June 1-12 Who's there? Def Leppard, Alice Cooper, System of a Down, Linkin Park, Pendulum, Rob Zombie...
June 29-July 10 Who's there? London Philharmonic Orchestra, James Rhodes, Evelyn Glennie, Leif Ove Andsnes, Natalie Clein Why go?
June 18-20 Who's there? The Proclaimers, Oysterband, Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon, Dreadzone, Chumbawumba, Stornoway Why go?
July 1-3 Who's there? James Blunt, Status Quo, Ray Davies, Cyndi Lauper, Imelda May, Buffy St Marie, Eliza Doolittle Why go?
July 1-3 Who's there? Booker T, Matthew Herbert, The Cinematic Orchestra and DJ sets from Craig Charles and Gilles Peterson Why go?
July 28-31 Who's there? Show of Hands, Peatbog Faeries, Salsa Celtica, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan Why go?
August 12-14 Who's there? The Charlatans, McFly, Newton Faulkner, Example, Bellowhead, Young Knives, The Bees, Showaddywaddy, Pete and the Pirates Why go?
make sure youdont miss a beat; Summer is nearly upon us, which means one thing - festivals. Jon Perks casts an eye over some of the best on offer in the Midlands
"Who's There?" is the charming story of a family in the agricultural south.
Who's There
For John Lee the question "Who's there?," with which Shakespeare's Hamlet begins announces the play's concern with identity.
Lee claims that postmodern critics, in contrast, answer the question "Who's there?" with a resounding "nothing." Lee engages in a witty and often scathing attack on New Historicists and Cultural Materialists, challenging their denials of interiority to the early modern "subject." He maintains that for New Historicists, Hamlet is a subject, a social product, and a stage on which contemporary ideologies are enacted.
He deftly uses the question "Who's there?" to clarify the often confusing theories of subjectivity espoused by postmodern critics.
Shakespeare's Hamlet and the Controversies of Self.