Stipulative Definitions

This kind of definition gives meaning to a word for the first time, either by creating a new word or giving a new meaning to an old word. A well known example is the word gay, which in the past meant happy, but now has been used to define homosexuals. An example of creating a new word can be seen at zoo's when they tried to name the offspring of a tiger and a lion. Since this kind of combonation could almost never happen in the wild, the zoo keeper never had to come up with a name for the offspring before. They decided to name the male offsprings ligers and the female ones tigons.