plot

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The main events and story of a book, film, or play.

   The characters were well drawn, but the plot was dull.

2. 2
   noun

   A secret plan to do something bad or illegal.

   They concocted a plot to discredit the governor.

3. 3
   verb

   To plan something bad or illegal in secret.

   They plotted to overthrow the government.

4. 4
   noun

   A small piece of land used for a particular purpose.

   They bought a small plot to grow vegetables.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Plot first meant “a small piece of ground” in Old English. Its late-16th-century sense “secret plan” probably grew from the meaning “map” or “plan,” under the influence of Old French complot, “dense crowd” or “secret project”; the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 helped spread this use.

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”), and possibly Gothic 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍄 (plat, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of noun sense 5. Noun sense 9 is a back-formation from for the plot.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary