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Full Idea
Meaning is essence divorced from the thing and wedded to the word.
Gist of Idea
Meaning is essence divorced from things and wedded to words
Source
Willard Quine (Vagaries of Definition [1972], p.51)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.51
A Reaction
Quine's strategy is that a demolition of essences will be a definition of meaning. Personally I would like to defend essences, though I admit to finding meaning tricky. That is because essences are external, but meanings are in minds.