Chapter 8 of Drake is here in full — 448 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of Drake is here in full — 448 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
DRAKE. Impossible to estimate, my Liege. Philip puts his losses at one million and a half. That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities. They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
Chapter 8 of Drake is here in full — 448 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/89 · 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.
third-person singular of “apply” — put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose
From this reading “That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.”
discovered or determined by scientific observation
From this reading “That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.”
English explorer and admiral who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada (1540-1596)
From this reading “DRAKE.”
a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
From this reading “Impossible to estimate, my Liege.”
something lost (especially money lost at gambling)
From this reading “Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.”
plural of “quantity” — how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify
From this reading “That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.”
(of animals) officially recorded with or certified by a recognized breed association; especially in a stud book
From this reading “That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.”
a large number or amount
From this reading “They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!”
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.
tableware that is plated with gold
In this reading “They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!”
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 Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
third-person singular of “apply” — put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
discovered or determined by scientific observation
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
gymnastic apparatus consisting of two parallel wooden rods supported on uprights
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
showing who or what does the action
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
English explorer and admiral who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada (1540-1596)
From this reading DRAKE.
an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth
From this reading Impossible to estimate, my Liege.
coins made of gold
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
consisting of one of two equivalent parts in value or quantity
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
used to add a contrasting statement
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with
From this reading Impossible to estimate, my Liege.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
From this reading Impossible to estimate, my Liege.
something lost (especially money lost at gambling)
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
the number that is represented as a one followed by 6 zeros
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Impossible to estimate, my Liege.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
and nothing more
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
Englishman and husband of Elizabeth II (born 1921)
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
(baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
plural of “put” — the option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date
From this reading Philip puts his losses at one million and a half.
plural of “quantity” — how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
(of animals) officially recorded with or certified by a recognized breed association; especially in a stud book
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That applies, however, only to ascertained, and registered quantities.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Impossible to estimate, my Liege.
a large number or amount
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
used to ask for information about something
From this reading They don’t know the half of what I have taken—Gold plate and bars by tons!
Chapter 8 of Drake by William MacOubrey holds 448 sentences, grouped into 90 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 8 holds 448 sentences of Drake, unabridged, divided into 90 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of Drake by William MacOubrey exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 448 sentences, grouped into 90 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 90 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 90 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 8 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 Drake by William MacOubrey on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3553 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #52582 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #52582, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 296 minutes of reading across 711 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Drake section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of Drake 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 Drake, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
