Chapter 23 of The Drunkard is here in full — 845 sentences across 169 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of The Drunkard is here in full — 845 sentences across 169 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell. --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
Chapter 23 of The Drunkard is here in full — 845 sentences across 169 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/169 · 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.
Having an unpleasantly bitter or pungent taste or smell.
From this reading “--_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.”
a sudden noisy expulsion of air from the lungs that clears the air passages; a common symptom of upper respiratory infection or bronchitis or pneumonia or tuberculosis
From this reading “--_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.”
used of skin roughened as a result of cold or exposure
From this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
any place of pain and turmoil
From this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
the sound of laughing
From this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
inflected form of “ring” — sound loudly and sonorously
From this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
with one side forward or to the front
From this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
so remarkably different or sudden as to cause momentary shock or alarm
From this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
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 “--_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.”
In this reading “A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.”
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 A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
Having an unpleasantly bitter or pungent taste or smell.
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
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 --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
a sudden noisy expulsion of air from the lungs that clears the air passages; a common symptom of upper respiratory infection or bronchitis or pneumonia or tuberculosis
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
used of skin roughened as a result of cold or exposure
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
undergo or live through a difficult experience
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
any place of pain and turmoil
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
the sound of laughing
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
the capital and largest city of England; located on the Thames in southeastern England; financial and industrial and cultural center
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
according to the clock
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
above and across; more than
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
inflected form of “ring” — sound loudly and sonorously
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
the cardinal number that is the sum of six and one
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
with one side forward or to the front
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
so remarkably different or sudden as to cause momentary shock or alarm
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
English poet (1837-1909)
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
Having little thickness or extent.
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading --_Swinburne._ It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening; a dry, acrid, coughing cold lay over London.
(offensive British slang) term used by the British to refer to people of color from Africa or Asia
From this reading A STARTLING EXPERIENCE FOR "WOG" "The die rang sideways as it fell, Rang cracked and thin, Like a man's laughter heard in hell.
Chapter 23 of The Drunkard by Guy Thorne holds 845 sentences, grouped into 169 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 23 holds 845 sentences of The Drunkard, unabridged, divided into 169 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of The Drunkard by Guy Thorne exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 845 sentences, grouped into 169 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 169 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 169 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 23 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 Drunkard by Guy Thorne on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8930 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41139 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41139, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1786 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Drunkard section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 23 chapters of The Drunkard 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 Drunkard, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
