Chapter 10 of Main Street is here in full — 396 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter X
Chapter 10 of Main Street is here in full — 396 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE house was haunted, long before evening. Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair. Did that door move? No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen. She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
Chapter 10 of Main Street is here in full — 396 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/79 · 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.
in a bland manner
From this reading “She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.”
jump about playfully
From this reading “She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.”
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading “She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.”
having or showing excessive or compulsive concern with something
From this reading “THE house was haunted, long before evening.”
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading “No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.”
a manner that is rude and insulting
From this reading “She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.”
being one more than sixteen
From this reading “No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.”
plural of “shadow” — shade within clear boundaries
From this reading “Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
in a bland manner
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
jump about playfully
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading Did that door move?
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading Did that door move?
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to achieve a purpose
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
having or showing excessive or compulsive concern with something
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Did that door move?
not any; not one
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
a manner that is rude and insulting
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
being one more than sixteen
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
plural of “shadow” — shade within clear boundaries
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
inflected form of “slip” — move stealthily
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Did that door move?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading She hadn't energy enough to caper before them, to smile blandly at Juanita's rudeness.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
past form of “wait” — stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
plural of “wall” — an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading Shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE house was haunted, long before evening.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading No. She wouldn't go to the Jolly Seventeen.
Chapter 10 of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis holds 396 sentences, grouped into 80 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 10 holds 396 sentences of Main Street, unabridged, divided into 80 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 10 of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 396 sentences, grouped into 80 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 80 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 80 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 10 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 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 11763 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #543 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #543, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2353 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Main Street section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 39 chapters of Main Street 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 Main Street, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
