Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SCHEME, n. [schema; Gr. σχημα, from σχεω, a contracted word, probably from σχεθω, to have or hold.]

1. A plan; a combination of things connected and adjusted by design; a system. We shall never be able to give ourselves a satisfactory account of the divine conduct, without forming such a scheme of things as shall take in time and eternity. Atterbury.
2. A project; a contrivance; a plan of something to be done; a design. Thus we say, to form a scheme, to lay a scheme, to contrive a scheme. The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. – Swift.
3. A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies; any lineal or mathematical diagram. Brown. Hudibras.