ground-plan
[Cf. Du. grondplan, Sw. grundplan.]
1. The representation on a plane of the arrangement, divisions, etc., of a building or other structure, at the ground-level.
| 1731 W. Halfpenny Perspective 23 To draw the Perspective Elevation of the Stage..Draw the Ground-Plan..by the Rule laid down in the foregoing Example. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. xi. 235 It is the dulness of the multitude that they cannot see the house, in the ground-plan. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 383 There are three of these furnaces, which are marked D in the ground-plan. |
2. fig. The outline, general plan or basis upon which any work is constructed or composed.
| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. viii, Did the Maker take them into His counsel; that they read His groundplan of the incomprehensible All? 1840 Hood Up Rhine Pref. 1 The following work was constructed, partly on the ground-plan of Humphrey Clinker. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets viii. 254 It was the purpose of Aristophanes to keep his serious ground-plan concealed. |