Noun

(wikipedia subplot) (en noun)

A plot within a story, subsidiary to the main plot.

*1978, R.B. Lee & R. Misiorowski, Script Models: A Handbook for the Media Writer ,

*:Subplot , a story line enclosed within the principal story to provide relief from the main plot's tension, add character dimension, etc.

*1998 : Stephen Roy Miller, The Taming of a Shrew: the 1594 quarto

*:Structurally, the two most variant scenes (outside of Scene ii) are Scenes 3 and 4 in which the compiler works out the variant subplot .

*2001 : Dennis O'Neil, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics

*:In a sense, Superman's romance with Lois Lane was a subplot and [...]

*2001, Nancy Arbuthnot Johnson, Vic Neufield, Forging Links for Health Research ,

*:But this story has a subplot' — a ' subplot about fairness and how people have divergent levels of access to knowledge and resources.

A subdivision of a plot of land, especially one used for an agricultural experiment.

*1996 : The American Midland Naturalist , published by the University of Notre Dame

[...] on sixteen 8/10-acre plots (12.8 acres) well distributed over the area. [...] A 1/160-acre subplot was established in a randomly chosen corner of each [...]

*1999, E. K. Sadanandan Nambiar, Christian Cossalter, Site Management and Productivity in Tropical Plantation Forest ,

*:There are 72 trees in each plot (6x12) and 36 trees in each subplot .

*2002, M. Boya Edwards, Proceedings for the Eight Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference ,

*:Hardwood and shrub stems (besides gallberry) were counted by species and measured for total height (if greater than 2 ft) on 3 strip plots per subplot that were 0.01 acre […]

Noun

(stories)

A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.

* Ed. Rev.

Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story

* Sir W. Temple

The four great monarchies make the subject of ancient story .

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}

A lie.

(chiefly, US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , chapter I:

The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

(US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

(obsolete) History.

* 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :

who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story , that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.