Chapter 2 of The Playboy of the Western World is here in full — 268 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The Playboy of the Western World is here in full — 268 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
PHILLY. Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world. JIMMY. He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man. Try him again, Philly.
Chapter 2 of The Playboy of the Western World is here in full — 268 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/53 · 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.
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
From this reading “He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.”
a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals
From this reading “He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.”
plural of “davy” — English chemist who was a pioneer in electrochemistry and who used it to isolate elements sodium and potassium and barium and boron and calcium and magnesium and chlorine (1778-1829)
From this reading “He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.”
a sacred place of pilgrimage
From this reading “He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.”
to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open
From this reading “JIMMY.”
be a mystery or bewildering to
From this reading “Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.”
plural of “sermon” — an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service)
From this reading “He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.”
make an effort or attempt
From this reading “Try him again, Philly.”
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 Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
anew
From this reading Try him again, Philly.
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
plural of “davy” — English chemist who was a pioneer in electrochemistry and who used it to isolate elements sodium and potassium and barium and boron and calcium and magnesium and chlorine (1778-1829)
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Try him again, Philly.
a sacred place of pilgrimage
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open
From this reading JIMMY.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PHILLY.
be a mystery or bewildering to
From this reading Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
plural of “sermon” — an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service)
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
make an effort or attempt
From this reading Try him again, Philly.
the quality of evil by virtue of villainous behavior
From this reading He’d beat Dan Davies’ circus, or the holy missioners making sermons on the villainy of man.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading Well, that lad’s a puzzle—the world.
Chapter 2 of The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. (John Millington) Synge holds 268 sentences, grouped into 54 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 2 holds 268 sentences of The Playboy of the Western World, unabridged, divided into 54 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. (John Millington) Synge exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 268 sentences, grouped into 54 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 54 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 54 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 2 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 Playboy of the Western World by J. M. (John Millington) Synge on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1807 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1240 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1240, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 150 minutes of reading across 362 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Playboy of the Western World section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of The Playboy of the Western World 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 Playboy of the Western World, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
