plotter
(ˈplɒtə(r))
[f. plot v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who makes a plan or map; one who plots points on a map.
| 1593 Norden Spec. Brit., M'sex i. 12 Many Surueyours and plotters of land seem to haue a speciall curiositie in obseruing this variation of the compasse. 1908 Geogr. Jrnl. XXXI. 536 Some central organization at home would be required for plotting the results. This could be done..by a plotter and plotting machine attached to any existing photographic establishment. 1943 ‘T. Dudley-Gordon’ Coastal Command at War ii. 17 At a long table sits a W.A.A.F. officer, writing and making calculations. She is the ‘plotter’... As the signals pour in..she translates the data into positions and..pin-points the chart, drawing pencil lines which ‘lay off’ courses of ships and aircraft. 1958 ‘P. Bryant’ Two Hours to Doom 48 Teams of plotters were at work, drawing in..the X points and target routes of the 843rd Wing. 1976 J. B. Garner et al. Surveying i. 7 The spacing of grid lines should be chosen so that it assists the plotter without becoming predominant on the completed sheet. 1978 Daily Tel. 19 Aug. 13 (caption) Mrs Vera Shaw, who was a Waaf plotter during the Battle of Britain. |
2. One who plans or devises anything; a planner, schemer; one who invents or constructs a dramatic or literary plot. Now rare.
| 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde Wks. (Grosart) I. 181 These gambols..are not fit for Church plotters, nor common wealth casters, such as wee are. 1598 F. Meres Pallad. Tamia 283 Anthony Mundye our best plotter. 1606 in Nichols Progr. Jas. I (1828) II. 68 In so short a time to be accomplished, a most statelie Pageant, the workmen and plotters thereof having not past twelve dayes of respit after their first warning. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. iv. 25 A great plotter, and a great writer. |
3. spec. One who contrives or joins in a mischievous or wicked plot; a conspirator.
| 1606 Proc. agst. Late Traitors 108, I will name it the Jesuites treason..they were the proprietaries, plotters and procurers of it. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. iv. 54 Plotters of those villanies. 1685 Evelyn Diary 10 Apr., Amongst the plotters for poisoning the late King. 1738 Warburton Div. Legat. I. 230 The baffled Plotter who died on a Gibbet. 1821 Byron Sardan. i. ii. 308 Not for all the plotters That ever shook a kingdom! |
4. a. An instrument or machine for making plots; spec. one for drawing maps or automatically plotting points on them.
| [1908 Geogr. Jrnl. XXXI. 544 A stereo-plotter..combines the offices of the stereo-comparator and plotting board.] 1926 R. M. Abraham Surveying Instruments x. 174 When the region to be mapped is rugged or mountainous the stereo method in conjunction with a suitable plotter is undoubtedly superior to all others. 1943 A. L. Higgins Elem. Surveying viii. 102 [With the plane table] angles are not observed in magnitude, as in the case of any goniometer,..such as the compass..and theodolite, but instead are constructed directly, so that the instrument is a goniograph, or angle plotter. 1948 Rev. Sci. Instruments XIX. 647/2 (caption) An automatic [electric] field plotter. 1959 Engineering 27 Feb. 262/2 The additional information derived from the true motion type of presentation is obtained from the movement of a target vessel across the PPI screen... This is not entirely satisfactory so a tube face reflection plotter..was developed. With its aid, true plots of own and several target vessels can be easily kept by the navigator. 1963 [see plot v.1 1 b]. 1972 Sci. Amer. Mar. 2/2 (Advt.), Our 745 flatbed plotter will scribe lines equal to the tolerances and standards of the most skilled mapmaker's hand. |
b. An instrument for automatically plotting a graph.
| 1956 Proc. Eastern Joint Computer Conf. 73/2 The Ballistic Research Laboratories have for some time been concerned with the development of a digital plotter capable of absorbing the output of..digital computers used in processing of missible ballistic data. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xi. 172 In some simple plotters, the paper is continuously fed in one direction, while a printing device, directly controlled by the computer, moves at right angle [sic] to the direction of paper motion. 1975 Nature 16 Oct. 559/2 Engineers, on the other hand, might well set up a mathematical model for a bridge—or an aircraft wing—and use the minicomputer to display on a visual display unit or graph plotter the consequences of certain input data (loading, sizes of beams, or whatever). |
5. One who owns a plot of land, a plot-holder.
| 1927 Smallholder 20 Mar. 106/3 Every plotter should pull his weight, not only for his own sake but for the good of the national cause. 1976 D. G. Hessayon (title) Vegetable plotter. |
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Add: [4.] [b.] Hence, any device capable of drawing with a pen under the control of a computer.
| 1970 Computers & Humanities IV. 315 The sc4020 can be used in a high speed plotter mode, with the normal character set available on a line printer. 1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 177/3 The serious application with the highest number of potential uses for a low-cost plotter is the production of business graphics from the spreadsheet models. |
6. Comb.(sense 4 b) plotter-printer.
| 1981 Electronics 28 July 6e/2 Epson MX-82 bit-image *plotter-printer prints 80 characters/s[econd] bidirectionally. |
plotter pen, a pen designed or intended for use with a plotter.
| 1981 Electronics 17 Nov. 140 The line sensor is mounted within a special housing machined to the same dimensions as a standard *plotter pen. 1985 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 9 Oct. b18/1 (Advt.), Free—with purchase of each plotter—plotter pens and transparencies. 1989 InfoWorld 20 Mar. 54/1 Even though most plotter pens are capped, using old pens on an important plot probably won't produce the best plot possible. |