Chapter 21 of "The Debatable Land": A Novel is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of "The Debatable Land": A Novel is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent. The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces. "Forever is a long time." Helen wrapped her cloak more closely. "Dead!"
Chapter 21 of "The Debatable Land": A Novel is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 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.
offering little or no hope
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
nervous and unable to relax
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
repetitive and persistent
From this reading “In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.”
tediously repetitious or lacking in variety
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
plural of “space” — the unlimited expanse in which everything is located
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
plural of “wrinkle” — a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface
From this reading “The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.”
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.
a prolonged period of time
In this reading “"Forever is a long time."”
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
In this reading “In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.”
cause to burst with a violent release of energy
In this reading “In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.”
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 In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
offering little or no hope
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
inflected form of “blow” — exhale hard
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
anything that covers or conceals
From this reading Helen wrapped her cloak more closely.
in a close relation or position in time or space
From this reading Helen wrapped her cloak more closely.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading "Dead!"
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
for a limitless time
From this reading "Forever is a long time."
nervous and unable to relax
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading Helen wrapped her cloak more closely.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Helen wrapped her cloak more closely.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
repetitive and persistent
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Forever is a long time."
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 "Forever is a long time."
characterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
tediously repetitious or lacking in variety
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading Helen wrapped her cloak more closely.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
lacking brightness or color; dull
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
plural of “space” — the unlimited expanse in which everything is located
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
plural of “star” — (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading "Forever is a long time."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
below or beneath something; less than
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
plural of “wave” — one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading In Which We Go Down the River and Return A loud wind blew up the river, cold, sombre, insistent.
covered with or as if with clothes or a wrap or cloak
From this reading Helen wrapped her cloak more closely.
plural of “wrinkle” — a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface
From this reading The river seemed to tremble in waves and shiver in wrinkles under the monotonous threatening of the wind, the stars to be fretful in their bleak spaces.
Chapter 21 of "The Debatable Land": A Novel by Arthur Colton holds 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 160 sentences of "The Debatable Land": A Novel, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of "The Debatable Land": A Novel by Arthur Colton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 "The Debatable Land": A Novel by Arthur Colton on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4252 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41963 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41963, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 354 minutes of reading across 851 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through "The Debatable Land": A Novel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 23 chapters of "The Debatable Land": A Novel 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 Debatable Land": A Novel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
