Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

meaning of word and definition

From:Alexandre Lang <allexpro@...>
Date:Monday, February 9, 2004, 4:42
Are a word's meaning and its definition's the same?

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

  Word \Word\, n. [AS. word; akin to OFries. & OS. word, D. woord,
     G. wort, Icel. or[eth], Sw. & Dan. ord, Goth. wa['u]rd,
     OPruss. wirds, Lith. vardas a name, L. verbum a word; or
     perhaps to Gr. "rh`twr an orator. Cf. {Verb}.]
     1. The spoken sign of a conception or an idea; an articulate
        or vocal sound, or a combination of articulate and vocal
        sounds, uttered by the human voice, and by custom
        expressing an idea or ideas; a single component part of
        human speech or language; a constituent part of a
        sentence; a term; a vocable. ``A glutton of words.''
        --Piers Plowman.

              You cram these words into mine ears, against The
              stomach of my sense.                  --Shak.

  Definition \Def`i*ni"tion\, n. [L. definitio: cf. F.
     d['e]finition.]
     2. Act of ascertaining and explaining the signification; a
        description of a thing by its properties; an explanation
        of the meaning of a word or term; as, the definition of
        ``circle;'' the definition of ``wit;'' an exact
        definition; a loose definition.

              Definition being nothing but making another
              understand by words what the term defined stands
              for.                                  --Locke.
--
  Alexandre Lang
  allexpro@eml.cc

--
http://www.fastmail.fm - A fast, anti-spam email service.