Chapter 7 of The Story of Doctor Dolittle is here in full — 216 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The Story of Doctor Dolittle is here in full — 216 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door. After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand. It is a small hand and a small face. It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.” “Women sometimes do that,” said the Doctor.
Chapter 7 of The Story of Doctor Dolittle is here in full — 216 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/43 · 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.
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading “So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.”
the part of the face above the eyes
From this reading “It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.””
held up in the air
From this reading “So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.”
fasten with a lock
From this reading “So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.”
nocturnal bird of prey with hawk-like beak and claws and large head with front-facing eyes
From this reading “So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.”
plural of “push” — the act of applying force in order to move something away
From this reading “It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.””
the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another
From this reading “After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.”
on certain occasions or in certain cases but not always
From this reading ““Women sometimes do that,” said the Doctor.”
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 After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
later than; following
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “Women sometimes do that,” said the Doctor.
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
the part of the face above the eyes
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It is a small hand and a small face.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is a small hand and a small face.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
held up in the air
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
fasten with a lock
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
a particular point in time
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
not any; not one
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
nocturnal bird of prey with hawk-like beak and claws and large head with front-facing eyes
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
plural of “push” — the act of applying force in order to move something away
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
precisely, exactly
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading It is a small hand and a small face.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
on certain occasions or in certain cases but not always
From this reading “Women sometimes do that,” said the Doctor.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading “Women sometimes do that,” said the Doctor.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading So the Doctor lifted the owl up and held him close to the lock of the door.
in the company of; together with
From this reading After a moment Too-Too said, “Now he’s rubbing his face with his left hand.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading It _might_ be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It’s a man all right.”
plural of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading “Women sometimes do that,” said the Doctor.
Chapter 7 of The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting holds 216 sentences, grouped into 44 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 7 holds 216 sentences of The Story of Doctor Dolittle, unabridged, divided into 44 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 216 sentences, grouped into 44 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 44 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 44 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 7 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 Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1715 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #501 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #501, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 142 minutes of reading across 343 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Story of Doctor Dolittle section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of The Story of Doctor Dolittle 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 Story of Doctor Dolittle, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
