For a large class of cases - though not for all - in which we employ the word meaning it can be explained thus: the meaning of a word is its use in the language.
Ludwig WittgensteinA philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.
Ludwig WittgensteinEvery sign by itself seems dead. What gives it life?--In use it is alive. Is life breathed into it there?--Or is the use its life?
Ludwig WittgensteinThe feeling of an unbridgeable gulf between consciousness and brain-process:When does this feeling occur in the present case?It is when I (for example) turn my attention in a particular way on to my own consciousness, and, astonished, say to myself: THIS is supposed to be produced by a process in the brain!--as it were clutching my forehead.
Ludwig Wittgenstein