scheme
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //skiːm//
A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.
noun
- 1
obsoleteAn artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words.
- 2
A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.
a blue case, from which was drawn a scheme of nativity
- 3
A systematic plan of future action.
The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
Originally the opening had doubtless marked the projection of another road, but the scheme had come to nothing.
Such [rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
- 4
A plot or secret, devious plan.
Her brain is continually fermenting new schemes.
- 5
An orderly combination of related parts.
the appearance and outward scheme of things
such a scheme of things as shall at once take in time and eternity
arguments […] sufficient to support and demonstrate a whole scheme of moral philosophy
The Revolution came and changed his whole scheme of life.
- 6
A chart or diagram of a system or object.
April 29, 1694, Robert South, A Sermon Preached at Westminster Abbey to draw an exact scheme of Constantinople, or a map of France
- 7
A mathematical structure that generalizes the notion of an algebraic variety in several ways, such as taking account of multiplicities and allowing "varieties" defined over any commutative ring. Formally, a locally ringed space that admits a covering by open sets, each of which is isomorphic to an affine scheme (i.e. the spectrum of some commutative ring).
- 8
A council housing estate.
It was all too dear. They all just put their prices up because it was out in the scheme.
“You can’t really say to the kids in the schemes [Scottish council estates]^([sic]): don’t do drugs, they’ll wreck your life, you’ll never get a job or a house or buy nice things.”
- 9
Part of a uniform resource identifier indicating the protocol or other purpose, such as http: or news:.
- 10
A portfolio of pension plans with related benefits comprising multiple independent members.
Etymology
From late Middle English scheame, from Medieval Latin schēma (“figure, form”), from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”). Doublet of schema. Compare sketch.
verb
- 1
To plot, or contrive a plan; to maneuver.
Laura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.
The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek.
- 2
To plan; to contrive; to maneuver.
He schemed a plot. He made use of the hotel's stationery to write a letter.
Forms
- plural
- schemes
- past tense
- schemed
- past participle
- schemed
- present participle
- scheming
- third person singular
- schemes
scheme · A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.
Scheme · A programming language, one of the two major dialects of Lisp.scheming · Tending to scheme; forming underhand plots.schiller · A lustre, similar to sheen, observed in certain minerals,…