Chapter 16 of Burlesque Plays and Poems is here in full — 377 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XVI
Chapter 16 of Burlesque Plays and Poems is here in full — 377 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement. The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon. Rum ti, &c. PUNCH'S APOTHEOSIS. BY T. H.
Chapter 16 of Burlesque Plays and Poems is here in full — 377 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/75 · 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.
model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
From this reading “PUNCH'S APOTHEOSIS.”
show off
From this reading “The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.”
a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually represented as breathing fire and having a reptilian body and sometimes wings
From this reading “The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.”
the mother of your father or mother
From this reading “Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.”
with much noise or loud and unpleasant sound
From this reading “The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.”
third-person singular of “relate” — make a logical or causal connection
From this reading “Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.”
liquor distilled from fermented molasses
From this reading “Rum ti, &c.”
a female sorcerer or magician
From this reading “Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.”
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.
cut down on; make a reduction in
In this reading “Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.”
In this reading “Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.”
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 Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
the feeling that accompanies something extremely surprising
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
From this reading PUNCH'S APOTHEOSIS.
plural of “body” — the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
cause to be bored
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
show off
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading BY T. H.
a degree on the centigrade scale of temperature
From this reading Rum ti, &c.
a window sash that is hinged (usually on one side)
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
separate with or as if with an instrument
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually represented as breathing fire and having a reptilian body and sometimes wings
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
a quad with a square body
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
your parents
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
Christian martyr; patron saint of England; hero of the legend of Saint George and the Dragon in which he slew a dragon and saved a princess (?-303)
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
the mother of your father or mother
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
a nonmetallic univalent element that is normally a colorless and odorless highly flammable diatomic gas; the simplest and lightest and most abundant element in the universe
From this reading BY T. H.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
inflected form of “hang” — be suspended or hanging
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
any amazing or wonderful occurrence
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
plural of “neighbour” — a person who lives (or is located) near another
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
with much noise or loud and unpleasant sound
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
above and across; more than
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PUNCH'S APOTHEOSIS.
third-person singular of “relate” — make a logical or causal connection
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
liquor distilled from fermented molasses
From this reading Rum ti, &c.
express in words
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
do one's shopping
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened)
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
a base found in DNA (but not in RNA) and derived from pyrimidine; pairs with adenine
From this reading BY T. H.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
a light strong grey lustrous corrosion-resistant metallic element used in strong lightweight alloys (as for airplane parts); the main sources are rutile and ilmenite
From this reading Rum ti, &c.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
precisely as stated
From this reading The neighbours, I've heard the folks say, The miracle noisily brag on, And the shop is to this very day, The sign of the George and the Dragon.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
a female sorcerer or magician
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Their bodies were never cut down, For granny relates with amazement, A witch bore 'em over the town And hung them on Thorowgood's casement.
Chapter 16 of Burlesque Plays and Poems by Henry [Editor] Morley holds 377 sentences, grouped into 76 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 16 holds 377 sentences of Burlesque Plays and Poems, unabridged, divided into 76 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of Burlesque Plays and Poems by Henry [Editor] Morley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 377 sentences, grouped into 76 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 76 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 76 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 16 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 Burlesque Plays and Poems by Henry [Editor] Morley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5928 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #53606 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #53606, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 494 minutes of reading across 1186 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Burlesque Plays and Poems section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 16 chapters of Burlesque Plays and Poems 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 Burlesque Plays and Poems, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
