Chapter 4 of The Deemster is here in full — 167 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Deemster is here in full — 167 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate. At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance. By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer. She should be turned out of house and home. She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.
Chapter 4 of The Deemster is here in full — 167 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/33 · 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.
intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude
From this reading “At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.”
past form of “devise” — come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort
From this reading “THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.”
an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
From this reading “THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.”
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
From this reading “By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.”
a partly sheltered anchorage
From this reading “She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.”
undergo or be subjected to
From this reading “By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.”
a vagrant
From this reading “She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.”
an intricate network suggesting something that was formed by weaving or interweaving
From this reading “THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.”
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 “THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.”
In this reading “By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.”
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 She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
terminate
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
past form of “devise” — come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
a male member of a religious order that originally relied solely on alms
From this reading She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
disposed to seek revenge or intended for revenge
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
a partly sheltered anchorage
From this reading She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
undergo or be subjected to
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
plural of “thought” — the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
a more or less definite period of time now or previously present
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
a vagrant
From this reading She should tramp the roads as a mendicant.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading She should be turned out of house and home.
the cardinal number that is the sum of nineteen and one
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
an intricate network suggesting something that was formed by weaving or interweaving
From this reading THE DEEMSTER OF MAN Twenty times that night Thorkell devised expedients to break the web of fate.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading At first his thoughts were of revengeful defiance.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading By fair means or foul the woman Kerruish should suffer.
Chapter 4 of The Deemster by Hall, Sir Caine holds 167 sentences, grouped into 34 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 4 holds 167 sentences of The Deemster, unabridged, divided into 34 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Deemster by Hall, Sir Caine exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 167 sentences, grouped into 34 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 34 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 34 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 4 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 Deemster by Hall, Sir Caine on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7651 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #35781 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #35781, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1531 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Deemster section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Deemster 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 Deemster, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
