Lexicographers tend to fall into one of two categories when it comes to writing definitions: lumpers and splitters. Lumpers are definers who tend to write broad definitions that can cover several more minor variations on that meaning; splitters are people who tend to write discrete definitions for each of those minor variations. This seems to be a natural inclination: lumpers have a very hard time teasing out the micro-meanings covered by their broad definitions, and splitters have a very hard time collapsing their incredibly concise definitions into one.
