marplot
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From mar + plot. In earliest use as a character name in The Busy Body,[1] by Susanna Centlivre, in 1709.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]marplot (plural marplots)
- A meddlesome person whose activity interferes with the plans of others. [from 18th c.]
- 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter XI, in The Understanding Heart:
- “The old marplot has discovered the baby,” Monica whispered. “I suppose it cried and woke him up, and now he thinks he's witness to a miracle.”
- 2012, Michael Burleigh, “Keeping the Flame Alive”, in Literary Review, section 402:
- Unthinking Anglo-Saxons regard him as a Gallic marplot, rather than the great twentieth-century statesman he was – certainly the greatest Frenchman since Napoleon.
See also
[edit]Adjective
[edit]marplot (comparative more marplot, superlative most marplot)
- (now rare) That foils a plot; interfering. [from 18th c.]
- 1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, vol. V, letter 83:
- Let us argue the point with this pert, unruly, marplot conscience of mine…