PLOT, n. [a different orthography of plat.]

1. A plat or small extent of ground; as, a garden plot. – Locke. It was a chosen plot of fertile land. – Spenser. When we mean to build, / We first survey the plot. – Sidney.
2. A plantation laid out. – Sidney.
3. A plan or scheme. [Qu. the next word.] – Spenser.
4. In surveying, a plan or draught of a field, farm or manor surveyed and delineated on paper.

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! – Addison.
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 plat must be a probable consequence of all that went before. – Pope.
3. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot. A man of much plot. – Denham.

1. 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. – Ps. xxxvii.
2. To contrive a plan; to scheme. The prince did plot to be secretly gone. – Wotton.

To make a plan of; to delineate. Carew.

To plan; to devise; to contrive; as, to plot an unprofitable crime. – Dryden.

1. A small extent of ground; a plat; as, a garden plot.
   
   
   Shak.
2. To make a plot, map, pr plan, of] to mark the position of on a plan; to delineate.
   
   

   This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth. Carew.

3. 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.
   
   

   I have overheard a plot of death. Shak.

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

4. To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire.
   
   
   Shak.

   The wicked plotteth against the just. Ps. xxxvii. 12.

5. To plan; to scheme; to devise; to contrive secretly.
   
   
   "Plotting an unprofitable crime." Dryden. "Plotting now the fall of others." Milton
6. A plantation laid out.
   
   
   [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
7. A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
   
   
   [Obs.]

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

8. To contrive a plan or stratagem; to scheme.
   
   

   The prince did plot to be secretly gone. Sir H. Wotton.

9. A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc., drawn to a scale.
10. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
    
    
    [Obs.] "A man of much plot." Denham.
11. A plan; a purpose.
    
    
    "No other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls." Jer. Taylor.
12. In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
    
    

    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.

    Syn. -- Intrigue; stratagem; conspiracy; cabal; combination; contrivance.