plan

noun

1. 1

   A drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc.

   The plans for many important buildings were once publicly available.

2. 2

   A set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal.

   He didn't really have a plan; he had a goal and a habit of control.

   Sweet darling, don't you know somewhere / In the land where plans are made / Someone has written a story / Put down the pen and turn the page

   Life is what happens to you / While you're busy making other plans

3. 3

   A two-dimensional drawing of a building as seen from above with obscuring or irrelevant details such as roof removed, or of a floor of a building, revealing the internal layout; as distinct from the elevation.

   Seen in plan, the building had numerous passageways not apparent to visitors.

4. 4

   A method; a way of procedure; a custom.

   The simple plan, / That they should take who have the power, / And they should keep who can.

5. 5

   A subscription to a service.

   a phone plan

   an Internet plan

verb

1. 1

   To design (a building, machine, etc.).

   The architect planned the building for the client.

2. 2

   To create a plan for.

   They jointly planned the project in phases, with good detail for the first month.

3. 3

   To intend.

   He planned to go, but work intervened.

   It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

4. 4

   To make a plan.

   They planned for the worst, bringing lots of emergency supplies.

Forms

plural

plans

past tense

planned

past participle

planned

present participle

planning

third person singular

plans