Some of your examples are very different from the case of "literally". "Awful" isn't a reversal of meaning, it's a narrowing of meaning. > Bolt - run away or

Some of your examples are very different from the case of "literally". "Awful" isn't a reversal of meaning, it's a narrowing of meaning. > Bolt - run away or secure in place These are homynyms, not divergent meanings. A crossbow bolt is fast, a door bolt is secure. > Cleave - cut or join These appear to have converged from the separate Old English verbs "cleofan" and "clifian": http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=cleave&searchmode=none http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&s... (Interestingly, "literally" has been misused to mean its opposite since at least the 1680s: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=literally&allowed_in_frame=0 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=literally&allow... . We've held off the "it means just what I choose it to mean" hordes so far, why give up now?)