plot

Etymology

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”), Gothic 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (plats, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of the "secret plan" sense.

noun

1. (narratology) The course of a story, comprising a series 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. c. 1725, Alexander Pope, View of the Epic Poem
2. An area or land used for building on or planting on.
3. A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
   I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast. 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32
4. A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable.
   The plot would have enabled them to get a majority on the board.
   The assassination of Lincoln was part of a larger plot.
5. Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
   a man of much plot a. 1669, John Denham, On Mr Thomas Killigrew's Return from Venice, and Mr William Murrey's from Scotland
6. Participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
7. A plan; a purpose.
8. (Various fandom slang, euphemistic) Attractive physical attributes of characters involved in a story, originating from ironic juxtaposition with the original meaning (course of the story).
   I'm not sure what's happening in that show, I mainly watch it for the plot.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To conceive (a crime, misdeed etc).
   They had plotted a robbery.
   They were plotting against the king.
2. (transitive) To trace out (a graph or diagram).
   They plotted the number of edits per day.
3. (transitive) To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
   Every five minutes they plotted their position.
   This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth. 1602, Richard Carew, Survey on Cornwall