Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Scheme

Scheme, n. [L. schema a rhetorical figure, a shape, figure, manner, Gr. ?, ?, form, shape, outline, plan, fr. ?, ?, to have or hold, to hold out, sustain, check, stop; cf. Skr. sah to be victorious, to endure, to hold out, AS. sige victory, G. sieg. Cf. Epoch, Hectic, School.] 1. A combination of things connected and adjusted by design; a system.

The appearance and outward scheme of things. Locke.

Such a scheme of things as shall at once take in time and eternity. Atterbury.

Arguments . . . sufficient to support and demonstrate a whole scheme of moral philosophy. J. Edwards.

The Revolution came and changed his whole scheme of life. Macaulay.

2. A plan or theory something to be done; a design; a project; as, to form a scheme.

The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. Swift.

3. Any lineal or mathematical diagram; an outline.

To draw an exact scheme of Constantinople, or a map of France. South.

4. (Astrol.) A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.

A blue silk case, from which was drawn a scheme of nativity. Sir W. Scott.

Syn. — Plan; project; contrivance; purpose; device; plot. — Scheme, Plan. Scheme and plan are subordinate to design; they propose modes of carrying our designs into effect. Scheme is the least definite of the two, and lies more in speculation. A plan is drawn out into details with a view to being carried into effect. As schemes are speculative, they often prove visionary; hence the opprobrious use of the words schemer and scheming. Plans, being more practical, are more frequently carried into effect.

He forms the well-concerted scheme of mischief; 'T is fixed, 't is done, and both are doomed to death. Rowe.

Artists and plans relieved my solemn hours; I founded palaces, and planted bowers. Prior.

Scheme, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Schemed; p. pr. & vb. n. Scheming.] To make a scheme of; to plan; to design; to project; to plot.

That wickedness which schemed, and executed, his destruction. G. Stuart.

Scheme, v. i. To form a scheme or schemes.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.