Chapter 19 of The Wailing Octopus is here in full — 351 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIX
Chapter 19 of The Wailing Octopus is here in full — 351 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick. He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs. The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off. Rick shot past and the figure followed. These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
Chapter 19 of The Wailing Octopus is here in full — 351 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/70 · 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.
forming or set at an angle
From this reading “He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.”
pressed tightly together
From this reading “He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.”
an athletic competition that involves diving into water
From this reading “These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.”
any of numerous small pigeons
From this reading “JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.”
plural of “frogman” — someone who works underwater
From this reading “These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.”
plural of “lung” — either of two saclike respiratory organs in the chest of vertebrates; serves to remove carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to the blood
From this reading “He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.”
a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (“rick” and “wrick” are British)
From this reading “JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.”
plural of “suit” — a set of garments (usually including a jacket and trousers or skirt) for outerwear all of the same fabric and color
From this reading “These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.”
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.
air at a pressure greater than that of the atmosphere
In this reading “He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.”
In this reading “Rick shot past and the figure followed.”
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 JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Rick shot past and the figure followed.
forming or set at an angle
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
pressed tightly together
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
an athletic competition that involves diving into water
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
any of numerous small pigeons
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
the act of fighting; any contest or struggle
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
a diagram or picture illustrating textual material
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
past form of “follow” — to travel behind, go after, come after
From this reading Rick shot past and the figure followed.
plural of “frogman” — someone who works underwater
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
an instinctive motive
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
conformity or harmony
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
plural of “lung” — either of two saclike respiratory organs in the chest of vertebrates; serves to remove carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to the blood
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
come together
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
in motion
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading He angled away, fighting the impulse to breathe, keeping the compressed air moving out of his lungs.
the time that has elapsed
From this reading Rick shot past and the figure followed.
a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (“rick” and “wrick” are British)
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off.
the act of firing a projectile
From this reading Rick shot past and the figure followed.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off.
plural of “suit” — a set of garments (usually including a jacket and trousers or skirt) for outerwear all of the same fabric and color
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
plural of “take” — the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off.
the plural of “this”: the people or things near, or just mentioned
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading JANIG Takes to the Water A figure dove to meet Rick.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading These new frogmen were diving in midseason suits.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The figure angled with him, then suddenly sheered off.
Chapter 19 of The Wailing Octopus by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin holds 351 sentences, grouped into 71 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 19 holds 351 sentences of The Wailing Octopus, unabridged, divided into 71 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 19 of The Wailing Octopus by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 351 sentences, grouped into 71 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 71 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 71 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 19 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 Wailing Octopus by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4131 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #31495 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #31495, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 344 minutes of reading across 827 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Wailing Octopus section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Wailing Octopus 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 Wailing Octopus, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
