Chapter 16 of The Rainbow is here in full — 347 sentences across 70 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVI
Chapter 16 of The Rainbow is here in full — 347 sentences across 70 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up. She could scarcely speak or notice. It was as if her energy were frozen. Her people asked her what was the matter. She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
Chapter 16 of The Rainbow is here in full — 347 sentences across 70 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/69 · 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.
lacking in light; not bright or harsh
From this reading “THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.”
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading “It was as if her energy were frozen.”
a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
From this reading “She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.”
deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc
From this reading “THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.”
turned into ice; affected by freezing or by long and severe cold
From this reading “It was as if her energy were frozen.”
an announcement containing information about an event
From this reading “She could scarcely speak or notice.”
an arc of colored light in the sky caused by refraction of the sun's rays by rain
From this reading “THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.”
only a very short time before
From this reading “She could scarcely speak or notice.”
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.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading Her people asked her what was the matter.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
not open or affording passage or access
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading She could scarcely speak or notice.
lacking in light; not bright or harsh
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
turned into ice; affected by freezing or by long and severe cold
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
a vaguely specified concern
From this reading Her people asked her what was the matter.
an announcement containing information about an event
From this reading She could scarcely speak or notice.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading She could scarcely speak or notice.
(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
From this reading Her people asked her what was the matter.
an arc of colored light in the sky caused by refraction of the sun's rays by rain
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
only a very short time before
From this reading She could scarcely speak or notice.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She could scarcely speak or notice.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
express in speech
From this reading She could scarcely speak or notice.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading THE RAINBOW Ursula went home to Beldover faint, dim, closed up.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading It was as if her energy were frozen.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading Her people asked her what was the matter.
in the company of; together with
From this reading She told them she had broken off the engagement with Skrebensky.
Chapter 16 of The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence holds 347 sentences, grouped into 70 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 16 holds 347 sentences of The Rainbow, unabridged, divided into 70 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 347 sentences, grouped into 70 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 70 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 70 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 16 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 Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 14207 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #28948 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #28948, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2842 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Rainbow section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 16 chapters of The Rainbow 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 Rainbow, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
