plot
UK /plɒt/ · US /plɑt/ noun, verb
Forms plots plotting plotted
- noun (narratology) The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
- noun An area or land used for building on or planting on.
- noun A grave. “He's buried in the family plot.”
- noun A ground plan, map; a nautical chart.
- noun A sketch or outline detailing the arrangement of something; a plan.
- noun A synopsis of a literary work.
- noun A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
- noun A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable. “The plot would have enabled them to get a majority on the board.”
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To conceive (a crime, misdeed etc). “They had plotted a robbery.”
- verb (transitive) To trace out (a graph or diagram). “They plotted the number of edits per day.”
- verb (transitive) To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc). “Every five minutes they plotted their position.”
Synonyms
storyline parcel scheme chart design diagram map graph graphic plan schematic conspiracy intrigue machination blueprint project proposal connive becast lot secret plan game plot of land plot of ground patch plat
Etymology
From Middle English plot, plotte, from late Old English plot (“a plot of ground”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *plataz, *platjaz (“a patch”); or alternatively, perhaps from a rebracketing of Old English land-splott (“small portion, or plot, of ground”) taken as landes-plot (“plot of land”). Compare Middle Low German plet (“patch, strip of cloth, rags”), German Bletz (“rags, bits, strip of land”), and possibly Gothic 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍄 (plat, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence and reinforcement of noun sense 8.
Noun sense 12 is a back-formation from for the plot.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small extent of ground; a plat; as, a garden plot. Shak.
- noun A plantation laid out. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
- verb To make a plot, map, pr plan, of; to mark the position of on a plan; to delineate.
- noun Any scheme, stratagem, secret design, or plan, of a complicated nature, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a treacherous and mischievous one; a conspiracy; an intrigue; as, the Rye-house Plot.
Etymology [AS. plot; cf. Goth. plats a patch. Cf. Plat a piece of ground.]
Etymology [Abbrev. from complot.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “plot”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details