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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A plantation laid out. [ Obs. ] Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Surv.) A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc., drawn to a scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wicked plotteth against the just. Ps. xxxvii. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To contrive a plan or stratagem; to scheme. [ 1913 Webster ]

The prince did plot to be secretly gone. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth. Carew. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have overheard a plot of death. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, think what anxious moments pass between
The birth of plots and their last fatal periods! Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot or intrigue. [ Obs. ] “A man of much plot.” Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A plan; a purpose. “No other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls.” Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Intrigue; stratagem; conspiracy; cabal; combination; contrivance. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Abounding with plots. [ 1913 Webster ]

a.Of pertaining to the Plotinists or their doctrines. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) A disciple of Plotinus, a celebrated Platonic philosopher of the third century, who taught that the human soul emanates from the divine Being, to whom it reunited at death. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Secure against harm by plots. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]