Etymology From mar (“to spoil, to ruin”) + plot (“plan”). In earliest use as a character name in The Busie Body, by Susanna Centlivre, in 1709. Compare addle-plot.
1
Synonym of spoilsport, one who ruins other's plans or enjoyment of something.
“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.”1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter XI, in The Understanding Heart:
Several classical texts relate that the mighty god Kung Kung (Common Work) [translating 共工 (Gònggōng)] plays the mythic role of the marplot, that is, one who seeks to destroy the cosmos.⁴¹ Chapter Three of Huai-nan Tzu [translating 淮南子 (Huáinánzǐ)], for example, narrates how the rebellious Kung Kung fought with the sky god Chuan Hsü [translating 顓頊 /颛顼] for world domination and in his titanic fury Kung Kung broke one of the supports that separated the sky from the earth.⁴²2006, Anne Birrell, “Myth as Sacred History”, in Chinese Myth and Culture, Cambridge: McGuinness China Monographs, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 92:
1 more example
Unthinking Anglo-Saxons regard him as a Gallic marplot, rather than the great twentieth-century statesman he was – certainly the greatest Frenchman since Napoleon.2012, Michael Burleigh, “Keeping the Flame Alive”, in Literary Review, section 402:
Etymology From mar (“to spoil, to ruin”) + plot (“plan”). In earliest use as a character name in The Busie Body, by Susanna Centlivre, in 1709. Compare addle-plot.