Meaning

noun an elaborate and systematic plan of action

noun a statement that evades the question by cleverness or trickery

noun a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole

originFrom late Middle English scheame, from Medieval Latin schēma (“figure, form”), from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”). Doublet of schema. Compare sketch.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0