a secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, esp. a hostile, unlawful, or evil purpose: a plot to overthrow the government.
2.
Also called storyline.the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.
3.
a small piece or area of ground: a garden plot; burial plot.
4.
a measured piece or parcel of land: a house on a two-acre plot.
5.
a plan, map, diagram, or other graphic representation, as of land, a building, etc.
6.
a list, timetable, or scheme dealing with any of the various arrangements for the production of a play, motion picture, etc.: According to the property plot, there should be a lamp stage left.
7.
a chart showing the course of a craft, as a ship or airplane.
8.
Artillery. a point or points located on a map or chart: target plot.
–verb (used with object)
9.
to plan secretly, esp. something hostile or evil: to plot mutiny.
10.
to mark on a plan, map, or chart, as the course of a ship or aircraft.
11.
to draw a plan or map of, as a tract of land or a building.
12.
to divide (land) into plots.
13.
to determine and mark (points), as on plotting paper, by means of measurements or coordinates.
14.
to draw (a curve) by means of points so marked.
15.
to represent by means of such a curve.
16.
to devise or construct the plot of (a play, novel, etc.).
17.
to prepare a list, timetable, or scheme of (production arrangements), as for a play or motion picture: The stage manager hadn't plotted the set changes until one day before the dress rehearsal.
18.
to make (a calculation) by graph.
–verb (used without object)
19.
to plan or scheme secretly; form a plot; conspire.
20.
to devise or develop a literary or dramatic plot.
21.
to be marked or located by means of measurements or coordinates, as on plotting paper.
[Origin: bef. 1100; (n.) of multiple orig.: in sense “piece of ground,” ME: small area, patch, stain, piece of ground, OE: piece of ground (orig. obscure); in senses “ground plan, outline, map, scheme,” var. (since the 16th century) of plat1, itself partly a var. of ME, OE plot; sense “secret plan” (from 16th century) by assoc. with complot, in pejorative sense; (v.) deriv. of the n.]
—Related forms
plotful, adjective
plotless, adjective
plot·less·ness, noun
—Synonyms 1. intrigue, cabal. See conspiracy.9. brew, hatch, frame. 19.Plot,conspire,scheme imply secret, cunning, and often unscrupulous planning to gain one's own ends. To plot is to contrive a secret plan of a selfish and often treasonable kind: to plot against someone's life. To conspire is to unite with others in an illicit or illegal machination: to conspire to seize a government. To scheme is to plan ingeniously, subtly, and often craftily for one's own advantage: to scheme how to gain power.
A diagram that exhibits a relationship, often functional, between two sets of numbers as a set of points having coordinates determined by the relationship. Also called plot.
A pictorial device, such as a pie chart or bar graph, used to illustrate quantitative relationships. Also called chart.
O.E. plot "small piece of ground," of unknown origin. Sense of "ground plan," and thus "map, chart" is 1551; that of "plan, scheme" is 1587, probably by accidental similarity to complot, from O.Fr. complot "combined plan," of unknown origin, perhaps a back-formation from compeloter "to roll into a ball." Meaning "set of events in a story" is from 1649. The verb is first attested 1589 in the sense of "to lay plans for" (usually with evil intent); 1590 in the lit. sense of "to make a map or diagram."
a secret scheme to do something (especially something underhand or illegal); "they concocted a plot to discredit the governor"; "I saw through his little game from the start"
2.
a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation; "a bean plot"; "a cabbage patch"; "a briar patch"
3.
the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.; "the characters were well drawn but the plot was banal"
4.
a chart or map showing the movements or progress of an object
verb
1.
plan secretly, usually something illegal; "They plotted the overthrow of the government"
2.
make a schematic or technical drawing of that shows interactions among variables or how something is constructed [syn: diagram]
Com"plot\, n. [F. complot, prob. for comploit, fr.L. complicitum, prop. p. p. of complicare, but equiv. to complicatio complication, entangling. See Complicate, and cf. Plot.] A plotting together; a confederacy in some evil design; a conspiracy. I know their complot is to have my life. --Shak.
Plat\, n. [Cf. Plat flat, which perh. caused this spelling, and Plot a piece of ground.] A small piece or plot of ground laid out with some design, or for a special use; usually, a portion of flat, even ground. This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve. --Milton. I keep smooth plat of fruitful ground. --Tennyson.
Plot\, n. [AS. plot; cf. Goth. plats a patch. Cf. Plat a piece of ground.]1. A small extent of ground; a plat; as, a garden plot. --Shak. 2. A plantation laid out. [Obs.] --Sir P. Sidney. 3. (Surv.) A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc., drawn to a scale.
Plot\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Plotting.] To make a plot, map, pr plan, of; to mark the position of on a plan; to delineate. This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth. --Carew.
Plot\, n. [Abbrev. from complot.]1. 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. I have overheard a plot of death. --Shak. O, think what anxious moments pass between The birth of plots and their last fatal periods! --Addison. 2. A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy. [Obs.] And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce. --Milton. 3. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot or intrigue. [Obs.] "A man of much plot." --Denham. 4. A plan; a purpose. "No other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls." --Jer. Taylor. 5. In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before. --Pope. Syn: Intrigue; stratagem; conspiracy; cabal; combination; contrivance.
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Audio Help [plot] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, plot·ted, plot·ting. 
