The True Meaning of Hotel California 

Hot take: the hotel California is a real place and the eagles are still stuck there they need your help go save them

Let's enjoy this before Don Henley copyright blocks it.

I always interpreted the actual "hotel" as purgatory. The dude dies somehow on the drive and ends up at the hotel in limbo. It's not till the dinner party that he realizes something is up. He then spends the end of the song trying to get back to the land of the living. "You can chexk out anytime you want, but you can never leave" meaning he's dead and stuck there in limbo. It just feels that way to me. I can't explain it. That's just the head movie I get when I hear the song.

“today i will tell you the definitive meaning of the song” five seconds later: “there is no definitive meaning to any song”

Don Henley tosses and turns every night, troubled by the thought that somewhere, somebody is listening to The Eagles, and he isn't getting paid for it.

One of the most brilliant facets of this song is that dueling guitars represent the two phases of the singer's life - one being an acoustic sound, representing the life before coming to LA, and the other being a glam electric reverb guitar sound, representing the LA lifestyle. The song begins with the clean notes of a acoustic style guitar solo, and then the electric comes in, and they duel throughout the bridge, until they play in unison and the electric dominates

I have long considered "Hotel California " to be one of the most innovative, deeply profound and poignant songs ever composed. Its haunting melody perfectly compliments the intentionally ambiguous reading of the lyric, underscoring its poetic, ballad-like arrangement and paying homage to the unsettling dark and ominous thematic subtleties commonly characteristic of mid-19th century allegorical prose and poetry. To this day, very few lyrical compositions match the sophistication and profundity of this extraordinary masterpiece.

You know you have written something AMAZING when nearly 50 years after release, people are still trying to figure out what it means.

Let’s see how long it takes for Don Henleys team of goons to take this down...

I've never understood why so many people think this song is so inscrutable. It's just a reflection on the "fame and fast living" lifestyle from someone who's been there. The dude starts out the song coming to the "Hotel California" and thinking it's awesome, then by the end he realizes it sucks and he tries to leave only to realize that you can't ever truly regain that innocence you had before. The Eagles spent years chasing fame and then they eventually got it. I'm pretty sure the song is just showing how something can look good from the outside but be unappealing on the inside.

I've loved the eagles for most of my life, their songs comforting me at my worst moments, but I have to say that watching the eagles live in concert (especially when they perform hotel California) is such a different feel to listening to a recording. it was like there was magic in the air that took your breath away with its beauty. Seeing the eagles perform live is something I will never forget and something I shall indulge in whenever I get the chance.

I think Hotel California is a prime example of how music can make you think. Each of us hears the same words but all of us have different ideas about their meanings. I can't speak for the lyricists among us but i myself imagine that must be pretty cool. Knowing that your words inspire such discussion about their meaning, or the lack thereof 🙂

I allways thought that this song was about drugs. And about how wonderful they are in the begining but then you can never leave.

"Hotel California" is actually literal. They're still there. Save them.

The Eagles and The Animals are Neighbors; Hotel California is just a block away from the House of The Rising Sun. You can get there by taking the Highway to Hell, drive north off of the Stairway to Heaven, take a right and head west along Penny Lane, turn left at the Strawberry Fields, go east along Ocean Avenue, and you'll find its just along the Boulivard of Broken Dreams, south of the Island in The Sun.

As a writer, I love metaphor! "Stabbing with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast" is a metaphor of a mental hospital where they try to kill insanity. Knives are needles and the beast is insanity. Also as a patient, that cuts way deep. As it says in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. -Dr. Johnson

Hotel California is about the music industry Hotel California is about drugs Hotel California is about women Hotel California is about Hell Hotel California meant to be taken literally and the Eagles are still trapped there. It's a negative Yelp review with a guitar duel

To me. Hotel california is talking about addiction. Its where you get trapped and there is no escape. You can't go back to the person you was before. You also can't escape the stigmata of addiction whether it's cocaine or food. Its the story of my young life, my mom teaching us how to be addicts and live that life style. Hotel california is a place where I still am because I can't escape it no matter what I change and who I try to be. But I will always be my mothers daughter. You can never leave. This song has been my sister and I song since our young teen years. Not because we chose it. It was chosen for us. I have been clean for close to 5 years now. My life is not easy but I will never pick up another drug. I was just saying what this song means to me and this is how my sister and I have felt about it since we were 14 and 12. Watching addiction change the lives of so many around us. Everyone has an opinion.

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard it. I was in the car near my family’s home in Sardinia, off the coast of Italy. My cousin put the radio on and Hotel California was playing It struck me in a way no music had yet. It had a melancholic sadness that was evident even then when I was about 11 or 12

I'm a 69 year old American man, a Native of Iowa. Excellent documentary. Many thought provoking insights. I have a BA in Literary Interpretation. I'm no Academic or Expert, but I recognize high minded interprepation of thoughts expressed with words, good stories. I thought of Whiter Shade of Pale while listening to you. It creates a similiar atmosphere. Every listening I hear something new and moving. And, ultimately, I still ponder on what dd I just hear. What was that? A few years ago I was driving along the coast road in LA. Suddenly, on my right, towards the Ocean, I saw a building labeled as Hotel California. No idea how long it has been there. Peace. Mr. Writer Man. Whatever you do, don't stop.

FYI: "Mirrors on the ceiling" is a symbol of sex, not cocaine. Anyone in the 70's would have interpreted it as a scene from one of a million different TV ads for a honeymoon hotel, complete with the complimentary bottle of pink champagne on ice.

I always thought it was about death. When he sings "My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim" he's failing asleep at the wheel and crashes and dies. Next thing he knows he is at the Hotel California, which he can never leave because he in the afterlife.

Thank you for your talk. To me , this song is a brilliant piece of writing performed by great musicians. If anything can make you think, this song does. To me, in many ways, it shows me how we human beings can get ourselves trapped in things and loose our way.

I really like the direction this video took in regards to the meaning! I’ve been aware of the idea that this song is a metaphor for drugs or the music industry or whatever pretty much as long as I’ve known it, but at the same time I enjoy it best as a purely literal narrative song about someone getting trapped in a freaky hotel. Great analysis!

Joe Walsh said that Hotel California is a metaphor for California. Aspiring artist from all over the world travel to California, hoping to make it big in the music industry, but they are only there for a short stay, much like a hotel.

Title: “The true meaning of Hotel California.” One minute into the video: “Today I am here to tell you definitively the true meaning of Hotel California.” Fifteen seconds later: “I can’t tell you what the true meaning is.”

Recently a band member basically said that the song was about arriving and living in California and how much fun it was. Many think it's about addiction; it kind of is because they can't get enough of that place " they just can't kill the beast". But it's not about addiction, it's basically a love song about California. "Please, bring me my wine, the Captain said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969." They want to live it up like a rock star in California, and California totally welcomed that spirit. The music is very relaxing, pleasing, mellow, with tons of harmony, and thoroughly enjoyable. It's not sad; it's not a regretful type of feeling in the music. "What a lovely place(beaches, Hollywood, San Fran. California), what a lovely face(the women)"

Wow! This is amazing. I remember the day I bought this album nearly 50 years ago. I was so excited because I was a huge Eagles fan. I drove for a couple of hours to my best friend's house where we would meet up with some guys we hung out with and played this album all night. Whether your explanation of the meaning behind this wonderful album is correct or not doesn't matter. I just know it brought back good memories of a simpler and kinder time in my life. There were also several other songs on this album that made it to the top of the charts but none of them are as memorable or iconic as the title. Thanks for sharing!

I always took it as a interpretation of the Greek myth of Odysseus about the lotus eaters from the perspective of the band in a 1970's drug obsessed California. In the myth once you ate the lotus eaters food you would not be able to leave the island and you would not want to leave the island. I saw the song as that journey, in California it is a magical world you cannot trust, but once drank the Kool-Aid of Hollywood so to speak, you could not leave, you became "just prisoners here, of our own device". It is a hero's journey in a song, the textbook definition of a myth or fairy tale with a dark undertone and moral like most fairy tales.

Hotel California is a master class in applicability over allegory, cause it's applicable to all these different things but not truly allegorical to any of them

It is simply a song about those who go to CA thinking it is the land of milk and honey, However, they are in for a rude awakening when they get there.

My take on this song is that it describes the music business,and the contract a musician enters into with the record company,essentially selling their soul for fame and money,then realising that they are owned by them, and can check out any time,but can never leave…..the record company will make more money off you after your death ,they don’t care about you at all..

"You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" Doesn't this allude to RU-vid's hell of mid-roll ads tossed in at random places?

Maybe the true meaning is the meanings we came up with along the way.

Mystery, menace, ecstasy, and unsettling sights. What ever else it is, it's a song that conveys an interesting atmosphere. It doesn't sound like it's from any decade in particular. It's from the 1970s , but it could be any decade since. The specific sensual and visual details sit side by side with unanswered questions creating an intriguing tension in the listener only relieved by a perfectly crafted guitar solo/outro. All of this is carried along by the Eagle's fine musicianship drawing from a wealth of influences. They were studio musicians and they had to know and understand types kinds of music and they drew from all of it. It never gets old.

What made me love this song so much is how through out listening you find yourself in the middle of the events as the person who's telling the story , also the sadness of the solo guitar after not being able to leave, you can hear that the guitar crying like a little boy. I don't know but this song delivers all types of feeling you can feel your whole life, it's just magical no words can express what i feel when i'm listening to this song.

Careful Polyphonic. The Eagles are quite notorious when it comes to abusing the copyright system.

Hotel California has one of my favorite guitar solos ever

I was around 26 when I first heard this song and I fell in love with it. I can even sing it and play the outro singly or with another guitarist, although not necessarily the best of a rendition. The lyric has always been haunting me. I believe the first person in the story actually died in a car crash while driving in a desert highway towards California but his soul didn't realize it at first. His soul continued and checked into the "Hotel" and enjoyed his stay there for a while. He got bored and tried to get out. Then he realized he could not leave because he had died. The guitar outro is his cry of realization that he had died and had to stay in his new form.

When I was small, I thought this song was about a cannibalistic cult that held up within the Hotel California, luring people with friendly staff and beautiful women. The last verse to me was when the protagonist accidentally stumbled upon the feeding scene of the cult one random night, then he made a run for it, but unfortunately, got caught. This's why I was so excited to see AHS: Hotel. It was more about vampires, than ill-minded people partaking in cannibalism, but it was good enough for the weird little girl in me!😅🤷‍♀️ Still, after watching this video and have a better understanding on metaphors in music, I do admit that my interpretation was rather "on the nose", so it was probably not the most accurate way to comprehend Hotel California!🤷‍♀️

As a musician, i laugh at stuff like this, and not because its a bad video, not at all, this is a phenomenal video done with hours of research and executed flawlessly. I laugh because 99% of the time when we are writing lyrics, we have an idea of what we want to say, but usually end up just jumbling up words or fighting to make the words we picked fit into the verse rythymically, and more often then not just coming up with gobbledegook. Then someone comes along listens to it, comes up with their own conclusion as to what we were trying to say lol, then eventually you get asked by someone who also has their own idea of what you were trying to say, and we usually just nod and say "yeah man exactly, you get it", we take the deep philosophical credit, but we never came up with it.

I think of this song as a song about addiction, especially in the line “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” You can try to stop your addiction but you know deep inside you're trapped

Being a native Californian born in 1950, I have to say I'm bewildered that none of the interpretations in this video or in the comments I read below posit what I've always considered Hotel California's simplest, most obvious metaphor: The State of California lures and seduces millions of people to relocate there with a heavenly promise that often as not turns out to be hell. I do love the song, as I still love the state, and if about 30 million people would move out of California, I move back there in a heartbeat.

This song has always been special to me, from the first time I heard it. There is something so special, otherworldly about it… I am still looking for a song that is as good and can evoke the same feelings and images

"She's got the Mercedes Benz" is actually a mispenned lyric, the real lyric is "She's got the Mercedes bends" like the sickness you get from surfacing too quickly while diving. You could take it as one of two things, or both things if you wish A) she's spellbound by material things B) she's sick of her extravagant lifestyle

"Vaguery is the primary tool of songwriters." That's exactly it. Music is an art form, and art is subjective. Even if the artist says exactly what a piece means to them, it is going to resonate differently with everyone.

I remember the first time I heard this song. My family and I had regular get togethers with our extended family on my Mom’s side. These were usually for birthdays and holidays. For (almost) every gathering, we met at my auntie and uncle’s house, where she would play whatever music fit the event on her tv. One day, this was classic rock. I remember distinctly (think I was about 16) hearing something, and it caught my ear. Staring at the tv, I saw a video of a band playing something completely engulfing and mysterious. I loved it. I watched almost the entire thing, and after that, when I stumbled across the song again, soon finding out it’s name, I was hooked.

The chord progression is the most satisfying one of all time

I always felt that Hotel California captured a bit of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

It always reminded me of a summer version of The Shining.

I was in the Army stationed outside of Barstow from 1984 to 1988. I embrace the metaphoric influeneces in this iconic song discribing the very post I was at. It really is haunting how it works and accurate.

That style of song writing creates songs that will last forever. The Eagles and Pink Floyd were fantastic at this. I recommend 1st listening to The Wall in its entirety, 2nd Watch The Wall in its entirety, and 3rd think about the political situation in Europe after WW2. There is also the consideration for the life of a rock star as well. These songs have powerful structures with open floor plans so to speak. Music can be incredibly timeless.

The ghosts in the song are metaphorical. Like "Life in the Fast Lane," "Hotel California" is a social commentary on wealth and excess. Billy Joel's album 52nd Street did the same thing.

This is my absolute favorite song of all time. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times and it still gives me chills every time. It’s just hauntingly beautiful. The lyrics are amazing. The guitar is amazing. It’s just the perfect song IMO

Hotel California’s Open Endedness also compliments its meaning on a meta level. The one thing all the takes share in common is indulgence; a lack of meaning. The sound’s meaning being open ended and thus only partially existing really meshes with that.

Never tried to analyze the words of the song. This was interesting to listen to. This song has always remained one of my favorites since the album was released.

1:21 "There's no one true meaning to any song. And anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something" title of the video: The true meaning of Hotel California

The Eagles: we live in a society *4 minute guitar solo*

I actually like how the song was meant to be open to interpretation. I often feel that any song could be viewed the same. It could be about something or someone specific, but we, the listeners can put ourselves in that same situation. Sometimes a song can take you to a special time and place from your past. It could be just the thing you needed to hear in the present… and sometimes a song is just a song.

Two other tracks on the album, Life in the Fast Lane and New Kid in Town, are also about the dark side of fame and excess. The Eagles must have been going through a rough time and starting to reevaluate their life choices.

Everytime I hear hotel California I get this massive feeling of loss. A loss for the beauty of an amazing guitar solo

Polyphonic: Here's the true meaning of hotel California 2 seconds later: SIKE get jebaited

"The song is about the journey from innocense to experience"........ Quote Don Henley.

I always felt like the song was about addiction. "You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave "

I distinctly remember first hearing hotel California. I was 7 and hadn't even heard of the English language or even knew what was playing on the radio. I just remember the lyrics started after the intro and I had an incredible sense of fear, covering my ears and running outside crying. My mom was trying to ask me what was wrong but I just wanted to get away from the sound of the music playing. Two decades later I found out about the industry, recording rituals and the meaning behind lyrics, subliminal messages etc. Still shakes me up thinking about it. Don't dismiss your kids when they are freaking out about something. Innocence can sense evil.

I have to say I love your videos, i think they are very well put together and very entertaining. Because of this video I bought and started reading the magus, so far it’s a very good book and right up my alley

That’s why they hooked up with Stevie Nicks as she wrote what Christine McVie called ‘non sensical lyrics’ …but they are timeless songs with a feeling of nostalgia regardless of when they were brand new or decades old

"It's no coincidence that 51 days after the Eagles released Hotel California, Stephen King released The Shining". So Stephen King heard the song then wrote the book, got it published and released in 51 days. I know he's good but that was seriously impressive!

My take was that the main character dies during the first verse after having too much to drink and passing out behind the wheel (up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light; my head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night). He then goes to Purgatory, which could be closer to Heaven or hell, depending on how many vices someone has. The other people had their vices as well, which is why they are prisoners of their own device. They can "check out" eventually, meaning they can move to a different point in the afterlife, but they can never leave, meaning they are dead and can never return to Earth again.

I've said this many times. I'm a song writer. It's rare that you have some really solid idea in your mind when writing a song. If you do, you're doing yourself a disservice. Song, generally tend to write themselves. You start out with a few chord changes that sound nice. A melody usually just fits itself in there. Then you start playing with words and finding words that work well with each other. Then, there's always some kind of meaning in there, stuff on your mind. Thoughts, images you like. But it's usually not really about anything. And if you are very concerned with making your songs mean something specific, you're not writing the best songs that you could.

I am gonna throw a different spin on the meaning, because for me it ended up being my wedding song in 1987 my band/dj never showed up and my best friend brother had to run up to his house and get his Stereo and all his cassettes and 8 tracks that he had, sadly both my husband and I didn't really like country back then and all he had to offer for a wedding song was the Eagles, there were many songs on the cassette but we had to act quickly to dance, so we both said " Hotel California" I haven't shared our song to many people, because they laugh.. because with lyrics like you can check out any time you like but you can never leave" and it has the word kill in it a couple times, it has kind of set the tone of our relationship. There are so many times when you want to give up, when trauma hits your family and you want to leave but you just can't, This song always reminds me that We are all just prisoners here Of our own device" lol Marriage, I wouldn't have it any different but we laugh when we hear this song because it has more meaning than any love song out there. I am sure that is not the real reason of the song, lol but imagine this was your wedding song, when it was supposed to be Always but Atlantic Starr, I would choose this song anyday over that, because we have had so much trials and tribulations and we have survived and this song gives me strength. Finally I told everyone how I feel about this song.

I was a child when the song came out. It was a time when the Vampire was just starting to permeate Pop Culture. We watched Dark Shadows and Hilarious House of Frightenstein, and around this same time, my Father was starring as the title character in a stage production of Dracula. I ALWAYS thought that Hotel California was about a guy accidentally stumbling upon a nest of Vampires residing an abandoned luxury hotel. (The line about not drinking spirits since 1969 being the most obvious nod to Stoker. Vampires can no longer drink alcohol after their transformations) There are other, more veiled references to Vampires, throughout the song. It's funny that many decades later American Horror Story's HOTEL could very well have been a scripted version of the song! They always DID say I was a precocious child. Perhaps I missed my calling..!

I've always seen this song as being about material excess, fame and the dark side of fame, like addictions to everything, from drugs to sex, etc., and the loss of innocence that we can never go back and reclaim, but I also see the part about never being able to leave as a reference to substance addictions in particular, because once you've been an addict or an alcoholic, you will always be an addict or an alcoholic. On the whole, I just always thought of it as being about the panorama of everything in life, the celebrity lifestyle in particular, yes, but also that all of these things are a part of most of our lives in one way or another, from the obvious to the hidden, from the famous person to the regular person.

I was thinking about the image of the Mission Bell in your discussion as well. It's such a great symbol. At first, it's a great intro to the setting - a very California thing. Then it's also part of the religious imagery, calling one to a place of worship - in this case worshiping at the alter of sex, drugs and rock and roll. There's also an ominous tone, because the history of missions is not all beauty. Early on, they were a community where the native populations were stripped of their beliefs and nearly enslaved. It really hits on all the themes in the song.

It's about a place called "Night Winds". A very real place that's not real. 33rd Mason's understand it very well as they're the true writers of the song. It casts a spell on you. It's made for those that they can't cast a spell on. You allow the spell to be cast by listening to it of your own free will. A 33rd mason is a Witch, a spell binder. They call it "Witch language". It's in pretty much in any song you listen to.

The drug addiction interpretation has always made the most sense to me. "In the master's chambers/they gather for the feast/they stab it with their steely knives/but they just can't kill the beast." Definitely a second reference to heroin addiction. "You can check out any time you like/but you can never leave." "Check out" has long been a euphemism for death and recovered addicts will be the first to tell you, there is no "leaving" addiction. An addict will always be an addict, even after living a clean life for decades. But addicts often do check out.

This song does exactly what a well written poem does, evokes a feeling. Not meant to be explicitly true. Excellent lyrics and music!

I love these. Yes to each is own but man what an awesome way to explain this song " you can never leave" I like the coming to California and how it changed from woodstock.. Anyway this is really cool.

I remember I was 8 years old and 8 track was the new way to listen. I bought the album and took it to school and we used to listen to the album on the bus. Threes company was on the air Elvis had just died and the Blizzard of 78 had hit us. It was definatley a time of reflextion at its best.

11:00 The Hotel. I've worked as a "night man" for many years, and I can tell you this... there's really no easier or cooler job. You meet fascinating people, you simply check them in and send them on their way to a peaceful slumber. If you want to make it sound mystical, I suppose you could say that you're the watchman of their souls for that night. I'll never forget in 2019 we had the TV in the lobby on to CNN, and they were doing an Eagles retrospective... and as a group of people came in to get checked in for the evening, "Hotel California" began to play. Several of the guests noticed it and turned to look at me. I simply grinned and said... "Relax".

Every time I hear this song, it feels like I am living it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I LOVE THAT SONG AS WELL. IT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES.

Excellent analysis. "Hotel California" is The Eagles' masterpiece. I loved so many tracks off the album: New Kid in Town, The Last Resort, Wasted Time, and so many others.

The Eagles are the reason music costs us more money. When McCartney was touring the country for $35, the Eagles set the new price with their reunion tour: $100. Ticketmaster has never looked back. Letterman wanted Paul and the band to play Hotel California, one night. Shaffer said no because of the copyright and performance fee. Later he revealed that the charge to play Hotel California ONE TIME on national tv would be $250,000. THAT"S who the Eagles are, and always have been.

Whooooo boy time to play it backwards and hear the voice of satan again

Thats whats great about songs. There is no one meaning. It is for you to decipher for you to figure it out. Most of the time, the meaning of a song to you is what you need to hear. It's your mind helping you without you knowing. This is why music is so powerful.

Cool video, it would be awesome to see a deep dive into the full album!

This song was the high point of the Eagles. They reached their peak with this song. This is the kind of song that only comes along once in a lifetime or more. Not only are the music and guitar solo absolutely legendary and could easily be argued to be the #1 of all time, but the deep and downright biblical lyrics are poetic, epic, and could have been written by Edgar Allan Poe...they're fricking awesome!. How can anyone write like that?. It is a God-given gift. From where did they manage to pull them from?. Some dark deep recesses. Those days are gone. Those kinds of bands, guitar solos, and songwriters are gone. Hotel California could also be a metaphor for the United States and its immersion into Babylon a.k.a Hotel California

see I felt like the line, "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave" was always about how David Geffen would let them go from Geffen Records, but their masters were something that could never leave. so you can check out any time you like, but you can't ever truly leave. That feels more in line with the tap into their take on the music industry from this song.

Reminds me of when the Beatles had a song where most believed that Paul was dead. Yes plenty of religious references in the Hotel California. I always believed that the song was inspired by the actual hotel. We stayed across from that hotel at the Caliente hot tropics in Palm Springs. We stayed across the street because a night’s stay was triple the price.

Hotel California was the first album I ever owned. I got it as a gift the year I graduated high school in 1977, yeah, I’m getting old.

Hotel California is a masterpiece of lyrical mythology and musical pictures. The greatest wedding of the two occurs where the phrase "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" is immediately followed by a very strong guitar solo. Each half of the pairing adds punch to the other half.

As a child in California in the late 70s , we were certain it was about the California State Mental Hospital. Not saying we were right, but we were convinced.

When I was a kid a group of us reenacted the song and created a whole story about trying to escape...so we, as 10 year olds, got the whole cinematic vibe. In out story we could only escape by renouncing all our wealth and property and taking a vow of poverty, but if it wasn't sincere, you would be lost forever in Hotel California and have to serve the next group of guests who had to go through the process themselves.

Thanks for posting

Hotel California is a 7 minute bad yelp review

Title: The true meaning Video: There's not one meaning

Being a young Angeleno during the time of this song I can tell you that living in California was happy and fun. Where you felt safe and able to express yourself without any judgment.

Bravo! Excellent video on a subject that most people wonder about. Highly entertaining!

I think Cannibal Corpse’s “I Cum Blood” has a pretty straightforward meaning