Plan, n.
Etymology: [F., fr. L. planus flat, level. See Plain, a.]
1. A draught or form; properly, a representation drawn on a plane, as a map or a chart; especially, a top view, as of a machine, or the representation or delineation of a horizontal section of anything, as of a building; a graphic representation; a diagram.
2. A scheme devised; a method of action or procedure expressed or described in language; a project; as, the plan of a constitution; the plan of an expedition. God's plans like lines pure and white unfold. M. R. Smith.
3. A method; a way of procedure; a custom. The simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can. Wordsworth. Body plan, Floor plan, etc. See under Body, Floor, etc.
Syn. -- Scheme; draught; delineation; plot; sketch; project; design; contrivance; device. See Scheme.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Plan, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Planned; p. pr. & vb. n. Planning.]
1. To form a delineation of; to draught; to represent, as by a diagram.
2. To scheme; to devise; to contrive; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country. Even in penance, planning sins anew. Goldsmith.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for plan; he lists it under design, idea, sketch.
Where he writes about it:
Plan relates to details of form, structure, and action, in themselves; design considers these same details all as a means to an end. — from design
The plan of a campaign may be for a series of sharp attacks, with the design of thus surprising and overpowering the enemy. — from design
A man comes to a fixed intention to kill his enemy; he forms a plan to entrap him into his power, with the design of then compassing his death; as the law can not read the heart, it can only infer the intent from the evidences of design. — from design
Draft and plan apply especially to mechanical drawing, of which outline, sketch, and drawing are also used; a plan is strictly a view from above, as of a building or machine, giving the lines of a horizontal section, originally at the level of the ground, now in a wider sense at any height; as, a plan of the cellar; a plan of the attic. — from sketch