plot

Meanings

Noun

• The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
• An area or land used for building on or planting on.
• A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
• A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable.
• Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
• Participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
• A plan; a purpose.
• Attractive physical attributes of characters involved in a story, originating from ironic juxtaposition with the original meaning (course of the story).

Verb

• To conceive (a crime, etc).
• To trace out (a graph or diagram).
• To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
• To conceive a crime, misdeed, etc.

Related

Similar words

• becast
• scheme
• lot

Origin

• From Middle English plot, plotte, from Old English plot ("a plot of ground"), from Proto-Germanic *plataz, *platjaz, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Middle Low German plet ("patch, strip of cloth, rags"), German Bletz ("rags, bits, strip of land"), Gothic 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 ("a patch, rags"). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of the "secret plan" sense.