Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry is here in full — 353 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry is here in full — 353 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here. The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer. SIMEON (_points to rear right_). But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold! Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry is here in full — 353 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 17/70 · 5 reading units · Lines 81–85
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.
give encouragement to
From this reading “The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.”
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
From this reading “Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.”
third-person singular of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading “But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!”
plural of “inn” — a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers
From this reading “The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.”
the back of a military formation or procession
From this reading “SIMEON (_points to rear right_).”
woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat
From this reading “Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.”
(Old Testament) the 2nd son of Jacob and one of the 12 patriarchs of Israel
From this reading “SIMEON (_points to rear right_).”
be about
From this reading “Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
give encouragement to
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
third-person singular of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
plural of “inn” — a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
plural of “lie” — a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
an old word for “no”
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
plural of “point” — a geometric element that has position but no extension
From this reading SIMEON (_points to rear right_).
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
the back of a military formation or procession
From this reading SIMEON (_points to rear right_).
precisely, exactly
From this reading SIMEON (_points to rear right_).
woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat
From this reading Come, let's away and put the sheep in fold.
(Old Testament) the 2nd son of Jacob and one of the 12 patriarchs of Israel
From this reading SIMEON (_points to rear right_).
be about
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
in or at that place or location
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading SIMEON (_points to rear right_).
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading The town is gay, the inns are full of cheer.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading But there our duty lies, the wind grows cold!
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Nay gran'ther, I would liefer tarry here.
Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry by Walter Ben Hare holds 353 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 1 holds 353 sentences of The White Christmas and other Merry, unabridged, divided into 71 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry by Walter Ben Hare exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 353 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 1 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 White Christmas and other Merry by Walter Ben Hare on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4783 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #19826 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #19826, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 398 minutes of reading across 957 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The White Christmas and other Merry section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The White Christmas and other Merry 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 White Christmas and other Merry, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
