plot

See also: płot

English

Etymology

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 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (plats, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of the "secret plan" sense.

Pronunciation

Noun

plot (plural plots)

  1. The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. [from 1640s]
    Synonym: storyline
    • Alexander Pope
      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.
  2. An area or land used for building on or planting on. [from 1550s]
    Synonym: parcel
  3. A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
  4. A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable. [from 1580s]
    Synonyms: conspiracy, scheme
    The plot would have enabled them to get a majority on the board.
    The assassination of Lincoln was part of a larger plot.
    • Shakespeare
      I have overheard a plot of death.
    • Addison
      O, think what anxious moments pass between / The birth of plots and their last fatal periods!
  5. Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
    • Denham
      a man of much plot
  6. Participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
    • Milton
      And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce.
  7. A plan; a purpose.
    • Jeremy Taylor
      no other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls

Derived terms

Translations

course of a story

Verb

plot (third-person singular simple present plots, present participle plotting, simple past and past participle plotted)

  1. (transitive) To conceive (a crime, etc).
    They had plotted a robbery.
  2. (transitive) To trace out (a graph or diagram).
    They plotted the number of edits per day.
  3. (transitive) To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
    Every five minutes they plotted their position.
    • Carew
      This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth.
  4. (intransitive) To conceive a crime, misdeed, etc.
    They were plotting against the king.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Albanian

Etymology

From plotë.

Adverb

plot

  1. full, fully

Czech

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *plotъ

Noun

plot m

  1. fence

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

  • plot in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • plot in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔt

Verb

plot

  1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of plotten
  2. imperative of plotten

Luxembourgish

Verb

plot

  1. third-person singular present indicative of ploen
  2. second-person plural present indicative of ploen
  3. second-person plural imperative of ploen

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *plotъ

Noun

plot m (Cyrillic spelling плот)

  1. fence

Declension

Spanish

Noun

plot m (plural plots)

  1. (story-telling) plot
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