Chapter 15 of His Royal Nibs is here in full — 120 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XV
Chapter 15 of His Royal Nibs is here in full — 120 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“San-ndy!” The three on the verandah jumped. That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing. Chess! Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
Chapter 15 of His Royal Nibs is here in full — 120 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/24 · 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.
expressing pain or agony
From this reading “Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.”
weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat
From this reading “Chess!”
(of something seen or heard) clearly defined
From this reading “That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.”
a change in the form of a word (usually by adding a suffix) to indicate a change in its grammatical function
From this reading “That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.”
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading “Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.”
of hair color; pale yellowish to yellowish brown
From this reading “Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.”
the act of searching for something
From this reading “Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.”
a request to be present
From this reading “That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.”
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 “The three on the verandah jumped.”
In this reading “Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.”
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 Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
expressing pain or agony
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
put or send forth
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat
From this reading Chess!
(of something seen or heard) clearly defined
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
the act of escaping physically
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
throw a glance at; take a brief look at
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
of the present time and place
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
a change in the form of a word (usually by adding a suffix) to indicate a change in its grammatical function
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
past form of “jump” — move forward by leaps and bounds
From this reading The three on the verandah jumped.
inflected form of “mean” — mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The three on the verandah jumped.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
beyond or deviating from the usual or expected
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “San-ndy!”
of hair color; pale yellowish to yellowish brown
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
the act of searching for something
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
a request to be present
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
moving very fast
From this reading Sandy cast a swift agonized glance about him, seeking an immediate mode of escape.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The three on the verandah jumped.
a special situation
From this reading That crisp summons, that peculiar inflection meant but one thing.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading The three on the verandah jumped.
a porch along the outside of a building (sometimes partly enclosed)
From this reading The three on the verandah jumped.
Chapter 15 of His Royal Nibs by Onoto Watanna holds 120 sentences, grouped into 24 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 15 holds 120 sentences of His Royal Nibs, unabridged, divided into 24 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of His Royal Nibs by Onoto Watanna exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 120 sentences, grouped into 24 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 24 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 24 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 15 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 His Royal Nibs by Onoto Watanna on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3159 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #66184 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #66184, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 263 minutes of reading across 632 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through His Royal Nibs section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 27 chapters of His Royal Nibs 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 His Royal Nibs, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
