Chapter 21 of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales is here in full — 108 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales is here in full — 108 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
I was done! Given away! Sold by a woman! There was nothing for it now. If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
Chapter 21 of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales is here in full — 108 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/21 · 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 close relation or position in time or space
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
characteristic of or befitting a friend
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
-ing form of “gaze” — look at with fixed eyes
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
malicious satisfaction
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
the process of translating photographs into a digital form that can be recognized by a computer
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
disposed of to a purchaser
From this reading “Sold by a woman!”
the act of observing; taking a patient look
From this reading “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
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 “If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.”
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 Sold by a woman!
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Given away!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Sold by a woman!
in a close relation or position in time or space
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading I was done!
every one of two or more people or things, taken separately
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading There was nothing for it now.
characteristic of or befitting a friend
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
-ing form of “gaze” — look at with fixed eyes
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading Given away!
malicious satisfaction
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I was done!
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading There was nothing for it now.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading There was nothing for it now.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading There was nothing for it now.
above and across; more than
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
(American football) a play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
by chance
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
the process of translating photographs into a digital form that can be recognized by a computer
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
disposed of to a purchaser
From this reading Sold by a woman!
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
be standing; be upright
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was nothing for it now.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I was done!
the act of observing; taking a patient look
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading Sold by a woman!
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading If I were to stand here gazing about, perhaps she would be gloating over my defeat from some friendly window, so I walked away, passing the house I had been watching, and scanning each window closely.
Chapter 21 of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales by Andrew Robertson holds 108 sentences, grouped into 22 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 21 holds 108 sentences of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales, unabridged, divided into 22 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales by Andrew Robertson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 108 sentences, grouped into 22 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 22 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 22 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 21 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 Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales by Andrew Robertson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2657 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #54415 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #54415, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 221 minutes of reading across 532 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 23 chapters of Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales 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 Nuggets in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and Other Australian Tales, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
