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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Plot


PLOT, noun [a different orthography of plat.]

1. A plat or small extent of ground; as a garden plot

It was a chosen plot of fertile land.

When we mean to build,

We first survey the plot

2. A plantation laid out.

3. A plan or scheme. [Qu. the next word.]

4. In surveying, a plan or draught of a field, farm or manor surveyed and delineated on paper.

PLOT, verb transitive To make a plan of; to delineate.

PLOT, noun

1. Any scheme, stratagem or plan of a complicated nature, or consisting of many parts, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a mischievous one. A plot may be formed by a single person or by numbers. In the latter case, it is a conspiracy or an intrigue. The latter word more generally denotes a scheme directed against individuals; the former against the government. But this distinction is not always observed.

O think what anxious moments pass between

The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods!

2. In dramatic writings, the knot or intrigue; the story of a play, comprising a complication of incidents which are at last unfolded by unexpected means.

If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before.

3. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot

A man of much plot

PLOT, verb intransitive To form a scheme of mischief against another, or against a government or those who administer it. A traitor plots against his king.

The wicked plotteth against the just. Psalms 37:1.

1. To contrive a plan; to scheme.

The prince did plot to be secretly gone.

PLOT, verb transitive To plan; to devise; to contrive; as, to plot an unprofitable crime.