Multiplicity of meanings in poetry

Dead Sea coastline

Connotation and denotation are both important for the poet -- and important to understand for the read who seeks to understand and appreciate poetry. Connotation is what a word suggests beyond its dictionary definition. For example, "home" by connotation suggests something different that "abode." When we hear home, we think: security, love, comfort, family.

Denotation is just as important as connotation, especially considering the multiplicity of meanings of so many words. As the authors of Sound and Sense write, "The ambiguity and multiplicity of meanings possessed by words are an obstacle to the scientist but a resource to the poet" (42). Consider the word dead. We know it means something that is not alive. True, but it means a whole lot more. How many senses (different definitions) can you think of pertaining to "dead"?

Dictionary.com identifies 40 definitions (senses) for the word dead:

1. no longer living; deprived of life.
2. brain-dead.
3. not endowed with life; inanimate
4. resembling death; deathlike
5. bereft of sensation; numb
6. lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive
7. incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive
8. (of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished
9. no longer current or prevalent, obsolete
10. no longer functioning, operating, or productive
11. not moving or circulating; stagnant; stale
12. utterly tired; exhausted
13. (of a language) no longer in use
14. without vitality, spirit, enthusiasm, or the like
15. lacking the customary activity; dull; inactive
16. complete; absolute: dead silence
17. sudden or abrupt, as the complete stoppage of an action
18. put out; extinguished
19. without resilience or bounce
20. infertile; barren
21. exact; precise
22. accurate; sure; unerring
23. direct; straight
24. tasteless or flat, as a beverage
25. flat rather than glossy, bright, or brilliant
26. without resonance; anechoic
27. not fruitful; unproductive
28. deprived of civil rights
29. Sports. out of play
30. (of a golf ball) lying so close to the hole...
31. (of type or copy) having been used or rejected
32. Electricity. free from any electric connection
33. Metallurgy. (of steel) fully killed, unresponsive to heat treatment.
34. (of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.
35. noting any rope in a tackle that does not pass over a pulley
36. the period of greatest darkness, coldness
37. the dead, dead persons collectively
38. absolutely; completely: dead right; dead tired
39. with sudden and total stoppage of motion
40. directly; exactly; straight: dead ahead

Challenge: Can you find a word that has more than 42 senses? If so, pray tell.