¦ noun
1. a plan made in secret by a group of people to do something illegal or harmful.
2. the main sequence of events in a play, novel, or film.
3. a small piece of ground marked out for building, gardening, etc.
4. a graph showing the relation between two variables.
chiefly US a diagram, chart, or map.
¦ verb (plots, plotting, plotted)
1. secretly make plans to carry out (something illegal or harmful).
2. devise the plot of (a play, novel, or film).
3. mark (a route or position) on a chart.
mark out or allocate (points) on a graph.
make (a curve) by marking out a number of such points.
illustrate by use of a graph.
Phrases
lose the plot Brit. informal lose one's ability to understand or cope with what is happening.
Derivatives
plotless adjective
plotter noun
plotty adjective (informal).
Origin
OE (in sense 3 of the noun), of unknown origin; the sense 'secret plan' is assoc. with OFr. complot 'dense crowd, secret project'.