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.
The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold. SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_). Again I heard a singing in the sky! TIMOTHY. You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
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 58/70 · 5 reading units · Lines 286–290
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.
pain resulting from rapid change in pressure
From this reading “SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).”
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
From this reading “The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.”
third-person singular of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading “You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.”
third-person singular of “listen” — hear with intention
(Old Testament) the 2nd son of Jacob and one of the 12 patriarchs of Israel
From this reading “SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).”
move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
From this reading “You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.”
grass with long cylindrical spikes grown in northern United States and Europe for hay
From this reading “TIMOTHY.”
like the short high ringing sound of a small bell
From this reading “You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.”
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 Again I heard a singing in the sky!
anew
From this reading Again I heard a singing in the sky!
(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 You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
pain resulting from rapid change in pressure
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
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 The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
third-person singular of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading Again I heard a singing in the sky!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Again I heard a singing in the sky!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
third-person singular of “listen” — hear with intention
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
The element of a person that enables awareness and thought.
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
plural of “put” — the option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
worried and uneasy
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
precisely, exactly
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
(Old Testament) the 2nd son of Jacob and one of the 12 patriarchs of Israel
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
the act of singing vocal music
From this reading Again I heard a singing in the sky!
the atmosphere and outer space as viewed from the earth
From this reading Again I heard a singing in the sky!
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
grass with long cylindrical spikes grown in northern United States and Europe for hay
From this reading TIMOTHY.
like the short high ringing sound of a small bell
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
in the direction of
From this reading SIMEON (_puts hand to right ear, bends toward right and listens_).
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
precisely as stated
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
look attentively
From this reading The very sheep are restless in their fold, They watch the star and do not mind the cold.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading You heard the tinkling bell of some stray sheep, The night grows late, come let us all to sleep.
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.
