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Definition of plot - 11 dictionary results
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plot

  [plot] noun, verb, plot⋅ted, plot⋅ting.
Use plot in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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 plat 1 , 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To plot
graph 1   (grāf)   
n.  
  1. 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.
  2. A pictorial device, such as a pie chart or bar graph, used to illustrate quantitative relationships. Also called chart.
tr.v.   graphed, graph·ing, graphs
  1. To represent by a graph.
  2. To plot (a function) on a graph.

[Short for graphic formula.]
plot   (plŏt)   
n.  
    1. A small piece of ground, generally used for a specific purpose: a garden plot.
    2. A measured area of land; a lot.
  2. A ground plan, as for a building; a diagram.
  3. See graph1.
  4. The pattern of events or main story in a narrative or drama.
  5. A secret plan to accomplish a hostile or illegal purpose; a scheme.
v.   plot·ted, plot·ting, plots

v.   tr.
  1. To represent graphically, as on a chart: plot a ship's course.
  2. Mathematics
    1. To locate (points or other figures) on a graph by means of coordinates.
    2. To draw (a curve) connecting points on a graph.
  3. To conceive and arrange the action and incidents of: "I began plotting novels at about the time I learned to read" (James Baldwin).
  4. To form a plot for; prearrange secretly or deviously: plot an assassination.
v.   intr.
  1. To be located by means of coordinates, as on a chart or with data.
  2. To form or take part in a plot; scheme.

[Middle English, from Old English.]
plot'less adj., plot'less·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Plot

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

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

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.

Plot

Plot\ (pl[o^]t), v. i. 1. To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire. --Shak.

The wicked plotteth against the just. --Ps. xxxvii. 12.

2. To contrive a plan or stratagem; to scheme.

The prince did plot to be secretly gone. --Sir H. Wotton.

Plot

Plot\, v. t. To plan; to scheme; to devise; to contrive secretly. "Plotting an unprofitable crime." --Dryden. "Plotting now the fall of others." --Milton
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : plot
Spanish: complot,
German: das Komplott,
Japanese: 策略
More Translations »

plot

The organization of events in a work of fiction.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

plot 
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."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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plot

in fiction, the structure of interrelated actions, consciously selected and arranged by the author. Plot involves a considerably higher level of narrative organization than normally occurs in a story or fable. According to E.M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel (1927), a story is a "narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence," whereas a plot organizes the events according to a "sense of causality."

Learn more about plot with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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