Like most common words that have been around for a long time, it doesn’t have a “strict, black-and-white” definition, certainly not a universally agreed or used one.
It will vary widely based on context and audience—it’s not just typicality, it’s actual different uses. And because some meanings have social status, it’ll be used misleadingly fairly often, in a motte-and-bailey way, without ever really specifying either the motte nor the bailey.
If you’re in a context where you need more precision, you’ll have to use more words to describe the thing you’re talking about, rather than thinking there’s an authoritative reference somewhere that causes people to understand the full meaning of a single word.
Like most common words that have been around for a long time, it doesn’t have a “strict, black-and-white” definition, certainly not a universally agreed or used one.
It will vary widely based on context and audience—it’s not just typicality, it’s actual different uses. And because some meanings have social status, it’ll be used misleadingly fairly often, in a motte-and-bailey way, without ever really specifying either the motte nor the bailey.
If you’re in a context where you need more precision, you’ll have to use more words to describe the thing you’re talking about, rather than thinking there’s an authoritative reference somewhere that causes people to understand the full meaning of a single word.