Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small piece of ground, generally used for a specific purpose.
  • noun A measured area of land; a lot.
  • noun A ground plan, as for a building; a diagram.
  • noun The pattern or sequence of events in a narrative or drama.
  • noun A secret plan to accomplish a hostile or illegal purpose; a scheme.
  • intransitive verb To represent graphically, as on a chart.
  • intransitive verb To locate (points or other figures) on a graph by means of coordinates.
  • intransitive verb To draw (a curve) connecting points on a graph.
  • intransitive verb To conceive and arrange the action and incidents of.
  • intransitive verb To form a plot for; prearrange secretly or deviously.
  • intransitive verb To form or take part in a plot; scheme.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make a map or plan of; lay down on paper according to scale: as, to plot a farm or an estate; to plot a ship's course on a chart.
  • To determine or fix by measurements on a map or chart.
  • To plan; form plans for; devise; contrive; conspire to effect or bring about: now rarely used in a good sense.
  • Synonyms To concoct, brew, hatch, plan.
  • To form a plan or plot; scheme; especially, to conspire.
  • To divide into plots, as a building-site.
  • To press into cakes or balls, as soap.
  • To scald; steep in very hot water.
  • To make (any liquid) scalding hot.
  • noun A piece of ground; specifically, a small piece of ground of well-defined shape; a patch or spot of ground.
  • noun A patch, spot, or splotch of any kind, as in a garment.
  • noun In surveying, a plan or draft of a field, farm, estate, etc., surveyed and delineated on paper; a map or plan.
  • noun A fully formulated scheme or plan; a systematized purpose; design; aim.
  • noun A stratagem or secret plan; a secret project; an intrigue; a conspiracy.
  • noun The story of a play, poem, novel, or romance, comprising a complication of incidents which are at last unfolded by unexpected means; the intrigue.
  • noun Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plan.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire.
  • intransitive verb To contrive a plan or stratagem; to scheme.
  • transitive verb To make a plot, map, pr plan, of; to mark the position of on a plan; to delineate.
  • noun A small extent of ground; a plat.
  • noun obsolete A plantation laid out.
  • noun (Surv.) A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc., drawn to a scale.
  • transitive verb To plan; to scheme; to devise; to contrive secretly.
  • 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.
  • noun obsolete A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
  • noun obsolete Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
  • noun A plan; a purpose.
  • noun In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The general course of a story including significant events that determine its course or significant patterns of events.
  • noun An area or land used for building on or planting on.
  • noun A plan to commit a crime.
  • noun A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
  • verb transitive To conceive (a crime, etc).
  • verb transitive To trace out (a graph or diagram).
  • verb transitive To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
  • verb intransitive To conceive a crime, misdeed, etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English plot, plotte, from Old English plot ("a plot of ground"), from Proto-Germanic *plataz, *platjaz (“a patch”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Middle Low German plet ("patch, strip of cloth, rags"), German Bletz ("rags, bits, strip of land"), Gothic  (plats, "a patch, rags"). See also plat.

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    March 26, 2012