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 ordiagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device. - verb transitive To
conceive (acrime , 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 acrime ,misdeed , etc.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"_Plot -- plot -- plot_," says an enlightened British critic, "have been Mr. Dimond's three studies."
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 4, April 1810
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I'm not sure what the main plot is for The Unseen, but if it's anywhere near as good as The Price then there's good reason for me to have this on my wish list.
Archive 2010-03-01 2010
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Well, how about a forested planet with the deeply "connected" natives, a human military raid on a huge tree-city and a subsequent retaliation of natives ... some scenes seem incredibly familiar, even though Le Guin plot is markedly deeper and more sophisticated.
10 Possible Sources of "Avatar" in Classic Science Fiction 2010
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I'm not sure what the main plot is for The Unseen, but if it's anywhere near as good as The Price then there's good reason for me to have this on my wish list.
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This book's main plot is quite similar to an episode from series 2.
Random Assortment of Things to Say julieandrews 2008
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An interesting sub-plot to the self-loathing, lonely hero main plot, is a moral question of why Hancock should abide by regular human morality, given that he is, in ways, more than human.
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No pg-13, no Shia, and no changing the story to the point where the main plot is gone.
Update on DJ Caruso’s Y: The Last Man with Shia LaBeouf | /Film 2008
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That's because the main plot is not the action or the treachery or the historical import, it's the friendship among D'Artagnan and the three Musketeers.
Archive 2006-12-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2006
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That's because the main plot is not the action or the treachery or the historical import, it's the friendship among D'Artagnan and the three Musketeers.
One for all Matthew Guerrieri 2006
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Although the main plot is slow to start this is not necessarily a slow book.
Louises commented on the word plot
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March 26, 2012