C M Sperberg-McQueen then made the important point:
> The only problem I have with this is the implicit assumption that
> the senses given in published dictionaries are disjoint.
Can I add that sometimes one of a words meanings is the opposite of another.
The classic case is "inflammable" -- which causes much angst to safety people.
While it may not yet have reached the dictionaries, "decimate" originally
meant reduce by 10% [as in the Roman punishment] but is now usually used
to mean reduce by a large amount (eg 90%).
Peter