ABSTRACT
To decide whether something is or is not a bicycle, all you need to know is the definition of ‘bicycle’. If the thing has all, or most, of the characteristics described there, then it passes; if not, not. Now compare this with the sense of the lexeme ENEMY. This is quite different, because no-one is simply an enemy; you have to be an enemy of someone in particular. You may be my enemy, but someone else’s friend. Whereas the range of potential referents for BICYCLE is (at least in principle) always the same, the range for ENEMY varies according to who the other person is: one range for enemy of Dick, another for enemy of Tom and yet another for enemy of Harry. You decide whether or not someone is my enemy by studying their relationship to me; you can’t do it without including me in the equation.
