Chapter 20 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 is here in full — 373 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 is here in full — 373 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
LADIES. May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours. KNIGHTS. Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd. [_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.
Chapter 20 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 is here in full — 373 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/74 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
plural of “action” — something done (usually as opposed to something said)
From this reading “May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.”
a longing for something better than the present situation
From this reading “May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.”
a British peer of the highest rank
From this reading “[_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.”
plural of “knight” — originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit
From this reading “KNIGHTS.”
plural of “lady” — a polite name for any woman
From this reading “LADIES.”
the state of being disregarded or forgotten
From this reading “Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.”
be against; express opposition to
From this reading “May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.”
propose a toast to
From this reading “[_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
plural of “action” — something done (usually as opposed to something said)
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
a longing for something better than the present situation
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
a British peer of the highest rank
From this reading [_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading [_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
plural of “knight” — originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit
From this reading KNIGHTS.
plural of “lady” — a polite name for any woman
From this reading LADIES.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
the state of being disregarded or forgotten
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
be against; express opposition to
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
propose a toast to
From this reading [_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.
express in words
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
carry out
From this reading [_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading [_They salute, and take hands._ DUKE.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Say and hold; And this act of oblivion shall be sign'd.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
at the time that
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
in the company of; together with
From this reading May all our actions close with discontent When we oppose their humours.
Chapter 20 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 by Robert [Compiler] Dodsley holds 373 sentences, grouped into 75 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 20 holds 373 sentences of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14, unabridged, divided into 75 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 by Robert [Compiler] Dodsley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 373 sentences, grouped into 75 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 75 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 75 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 20 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 by Robert [Compiler] Dodsley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 11892 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #33398 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #33398, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2379 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 31 chapters of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14 to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
