Chapter 8 of Martin Chuzzlewit is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of Martin Chuzzlewit is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him. ‘My dears--!’ The sisters flew to wait upon him. ‘Poor girls!’ said Mr Pecksniff. ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
Chapter 8 of Martin Chuzzlewit is here in full — 446 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.
a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance
From this reading “‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.”
a block of solid substance (such as soap or wax)
From this reading “‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.”
deprive of freedom; take into confinement
From this reading “‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.”
inflected form of “fly” — travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading “The sisters flew to wait upon him.”
lacking in physical beauty or proportion
From this reading “‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.”
a small quantity of anything
From this reading “‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.”
plural of “sister” — a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading “The sisters flew to wait upon him.”
-ing form of “venture” — proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
From this reading “‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.”
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.
a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
a block of solid substance (such as soap or wax)
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
inflected form of “cry” — utter a sudden loud cry
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
dearly loved
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘My dears--!’
deprive of freedom; take into confinement
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
accept an excuse for
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
inflected form of “fly” — travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading The sisters flew to wait upon him.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading ‘Poor girls!’ said Mr Pecksniff.
a brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
lacking in physical beauty or proportion
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
a small quantity of anything
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
a form of address for a man
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading ‘My dears--!’
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading ‘Poor girls!’ said Mr Pecksniff.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading ‘Poor girls!’ said Mr Pecksniff.
term of address for a man
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
plural of “sister” — a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading The sisters flew to wait upon him.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The sisters flew to wait upon him.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading The sisters flew to wait upon him.
-ing form of “venture” — proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
From this reading The sisters flew to wait upon him.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
fermented juice (of grapes especially)
From this reading ‘One glass of wine--one morsel of this homely cake?’ cried Mr Pecksniff, venturing to detain him.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading ‘You will excuse their agitation, my dear sir.
Chapter 8 of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens holds 446 sentences, grouped into 90 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 8 holds 446 sentences of Martin Chuzzlewit, unabridged, divided into 90 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 446 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 Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 18057 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #968 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #968, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 3612 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Martin Chuzzlewit section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of Martin Chuzzlewit 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 Martin Chuzzlewit, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
