What is Meaning?

General definition of meaning - Meaning of 'X' is the reason as to why the parts of X are connected to each other.

Consider 3 cases of X i.e. Meaning of i) Data in general, ii) Sentences and iii) Words.

i) Data in general - 

I am ringing the doorbell multiple times and nobody is opening the door. This is the data.

What are the parts of this X? A - ringing the doorbell multiple times and B - nobody is opening the door

A and B are connected. What is the connection between A and B? There is no one opening the door AFTER/UPON ringing the doorbell multiple times.

WHY is A connected to B? That is, WHY is no one opening the door after/upon ringing the doorbell multiple times?

Answer : Because nobody is there in the house.

And this is what we say after we are in such a situation - "This MEANS nobody is in the house".

ii) Sentence - 

John gave a ball to Jack.

What are the parts of this sentence (X) - John, gave, ball, Jack...

Is there a connection between John and, say, Jack? Yes. 

What is the connection? That John gave a ball to Jack.

WHY does this connection exist? That is, why did John give a ball to Jack? The answer to this question constitutes one of the things we need to fully understand/ comprehend the MEANING of the sentence - John gave a ball to Jack.

Is there a connection between John and, say, ball? Yes.

What is the connection? That John gave a ball.

Why does this connection exist? That is, WHY did John give a ball? The answer to this question constitutes one of the things we need to fully understand/ comprehend the MEANING of the sentence - John gave a ball to Jack.

iii) Word - 

"Ticket"

What are the parts of X? The letters and the constituent sounds of pronunciation. 

Is there a connection between these constituent parts? Yes.

What is the connection? The peculiar way they have combined.

Why does the connection exist? This way of combining has led to the existence of the word 'ticket'. So asking why the connection exists is like asking why does the peculiar word "TICKET" exist? 

Answer : It stands for "a piece of paper ........." This is the MEANING of the word 'Ticket'.

------

NOTE : How / the way in which the parts are connected to each other constitutes the UNDERSTANDING of the meaning of X. For example, in the first case, the actual way in which ringing a doorbell would lead to a person inside hearing the sound and make him come to open the door would comprise the HOW the 2 parts (A and B) of the scene connect to each other.