According to their meaning prepositions may be divided into prepositions of place and direction (in, on, below, under, between, etc.), time (after, before, at, etc.), prepositions expressing abstract relations (by, with, because of, with a view to, etc.).

The lexical meaning of some prepositions is quite concrete (e. g. in, below, between, before, after, till, etc.), while that of some other prepositions may be weakened to a great extent (e. g. to, by, of).

For instance, the preposition to generally indicates direction or movement towards something:

Every night Sissy went to Rachel’s lodging, and sat with her in her small neat room. (Dickens)

But in some cases, the lexical meaning of the preposition to is weakened.

…all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years. (Ch. Bronte)

Some prepositions are polysemantic and may express different relations; e. g. for:

Never once had Erik sensed the struggle for life. (Wilson) (purpose.)

Even when their eyes had met and her sister had approached the bed, Louisa lay for minutes looking at her in silence… (Dickens) (time)

She could scarcely move her head for pain and heaviness, her eyes were strained and sore, and she was very weak. (Dickens) (cause)