Chapter 23 of Around the End is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of Around the End is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“NO GOAL!” At last! The day of the game! Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath. The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
Chapter 23 of Around the End is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 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.
inflected form of “awake” — stop sleeping
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
briefly shut the eyes
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it
From this reading ““NO GOAL!””
occurring with or following as a consequence
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
the property of being of short spatial extent
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
in a sleepy manner
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
the act of making something tighter
From this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
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 “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
temporarily
In this reading “Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.”
close in space; within reach
In this reading “The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At last!
inflected form of “awake” — stop sleeping
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
briefly shut the eyes
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
a youthful male person
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the process of taking in and expelling air during breathing
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading The day of the game!
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
undergo or live through a difficult experience
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
at or to or toward the front
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
a contest with rules to determine a winner
From this reading The day of the game!
the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it
From this reading “NO GOAL!”
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
immediately past
From this reading At last!
the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “as” or “too” or “so” or “that”; amounting to a large but indefinite number
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
a particular point in time
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
not any; not one
From this reading “NO GOAL!”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The day of the game!
occurring with or following as a consequence
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the property of being of short spatial extent
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
in a sleepy manner
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
happening without warning or in a short space of time
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The day of the game!
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the act of making something tighter
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading Many a boy awoke that morning to blink sleepily for a moment and then, full consciousness sweeping upon him, to experience a sudden tightening at the heart and a resultant shortness of breath.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The moment he had been looking forward to for fifty-odd days was at hand!
Chapter 23 of Around the End by Ralph Henry Barbour holds 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 23 holds 160 sentences of Around the End, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of Around the End by Ralph Henry Barbour exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 23 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 Around the End by Ralph Henry Barbour on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5301 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #59874 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #59874, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 441 minutes of reading across 1061 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Around the End section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of Around the End 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 Around the End, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
