Chapter 18 of The Owl Taxi is here in full — 148 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVIII
Chapter 18 of The Owl Taxi is here in full — 148 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen. De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate. Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious. This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone. Greg went back with him.
Chapter 18 of The Owl Taxi is here in full — 148 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/29 · 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.
eagerly desirous
From this reading “Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.”
an act that fails
From this reading “Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.”
of comparatively great physical weight or density
From this reading “De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.”
investigate scientifically
From this reading “De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.”
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading “BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.”
to give an account or representation of in words
From this reading “BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.”
the forest trees growing in a country or region
From this reading “De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.”
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading “This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.”
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.
belong to an earlier time
In this reading “Greg went back with him.”
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
In this reading “De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.”
In this reading “De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.”
appear or become visible; make a showing
In this reading “Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.”
In this reading “BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.”
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 BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
eagerly desirous
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Greg went back with him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
a youthful male person
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
an act that fails
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
of comparatively great physical weight or density
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
investigate scientifically
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
to give an account or representation of in words
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
express in words
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
the forest trees growing in a country or region
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
precisely as stated
From this reading Blossom's failure to turn up had made him very anxious.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading BLOSSOM'S REPORT Greg heard a new voice in the kitchen.
desired or wished for or sought
From this reading This was the boy from the drug-store to say that Greg was wanted on the telephone.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading De Silva was now in a heavy sleep, and he went down to investigate.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Greg went back with him.
Chapter 18 of The Owl Taxi by Hulbert Footner holds 148 sentences, grouped into 30 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 18 holds 148 sentences of The Owl Taxi, unabridged, divided into 30 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 18 of The Owl Taxi by Hulbert Footner exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 148 sentences, grouped into 30 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 30 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 30 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 18 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 Owl Taxi by Hulbert Footner on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6509 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #57088 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #57088, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 542 minutes of reading across 1302 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Owl Taxi section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 22 chapters of The Owl Taxi 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 Owl Taxi, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
