Chapter 7 of The barber's chair is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The barber's chair is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you. (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business. Not a soul in town. Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week. Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
Chapter 7 of The barber's chair is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
be able to spare or give up
From this reading “Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.”
offering little or no hope
From this reading “_Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.”
express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
From this reading “(_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.”
causing fear or dread or terror
From this reading “(_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.”
your parents
From this reading “Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.”
to make better
From this reading “Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.”
let for money
From this reading “Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.”
plural of “tax” — charge against a citizen's person or property or activity for the support of government
From this reading “Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.”
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 “(_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.”
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 Not a soul in town.
be able to spare or give up
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
(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 Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
offering little or no hope
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
causing fear or dread or terror
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
your parents
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
to make better
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Not a soul in town.
The element of a person that enables awareness and thought.
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
a form of address for a man
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Not a soul in town.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
give money, usually in exchange for goods or services
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
let for money
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
From this reading Not a soul in town.
plural of “take” — the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
plural of “tax” — charge against a citizen's person or property or activity for the support of government
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading Not a soul in town.
the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation
From this reading (_=Bleak= takes the chair_.) Mustn’t complain; but dreadful weather this for business.
any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading Had nothing to do but improve my mind all the week.
which person or people
From this reading Now, folks who pay rent and taxes can’t afford that.
in the company of; together with
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading _Nutts._ Now, Mr Bleak, I b’lieve the shave’s with you.
Chapter 7 of The barber's chair by Douglas William Jerrold holds 200 sentences, grouped into 40 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 7 holds 200 sentences of The barber's chair, unabridged, divided into 40 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The barber's chair by Douglas William Jerrold exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 200 sentences, grouped into 40 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 40 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 40 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 7 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.
