Chapter 5 of The barber's chair is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The barber's chair is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come. Thought all the beards had gone out of town. Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself. Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody. There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
Chapter 5 of The barber's chair is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 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.
plural of “beard” — the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
From this reading “Thought all the beards had gone out of town.”
plural of “dial” — the face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours
From this reading “Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.”
lacking in liveliness or animation
From this reading “Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.”
a set of two similar things considered as a unit
From this reading “There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.”
educator who founded the first kindergarten in the United States (1804-1894)
From this reading “_Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.”
a member of a police force
From this reading “_Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.”
do one's shopping
From this reading “Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.”
possessive form of “somebody” — a human being
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.
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 There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
plural of “beard” — the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
plural of “dial” — the face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours
From this reading Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.
lacking in liveliness or animation
From this reading Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.
to come or go into
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
destroyed or killed
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
and nothing more
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
a form of address for a man
From this reading Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.
used when the speaker is also the object of the action
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
a set of two similar things considered as a unit
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
educator who founded the first kindergarten in the United States (1804-1894)
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
a member of a police force
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
cut with a saw
From this reading Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.
do one's shopping
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Never saw the Dials so dull, Mr Peabody.
possessive form of “somebody” — a human being
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading Thought all the beards had gone out of town.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There isn’t a back pair that isn’t at a watering-place.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading _Enter =Peabody= (Policeman)._ _Nutts._ Well, I’m glad somebody’s come.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Just as you come, was thinking of shuttin’ up shop and goin’ myself.
Chapter 5 of The barber's chair by Douglas William Jerrold holds 125 sentences, grouped into 25 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 5 holds 125 sentences of The barber's chair, unabridged, divided into 25 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The barber's chair by Douglas William Jerrold exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 125 sentences, grouped into 25 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 25 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 25 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 5 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 The barber's chair by Douglas William Jerrold on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3759 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #69868 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #69868, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 313 minutes of reading across 752 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The barber's chair section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The barber's chair 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 The barber's chair, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
