A common linguistic process is called specialization. This is when, with time, the meaning of a word becomes more narrow. (Why? Don't ask me why. As with many linguistic processes, I don't think anyone knows why they occur. They are just the sum of what many speakers, for some reason, start to do at about the same time.)
Here are some examples (and, once again, I am going to reference German for comparisons).
Starve originally meant 'to die' rather than having today's specialized meaning of 'to die from hunger'. (Compare German sterben).
Meat originally meant 'food' rather than specifically what would have been called flesh (compare German Fleisch meaning 'meat').
Deer (the Old English form would have been deor) meant any animal, not specifically what we call deer today (compare German Thier).
A dog, in Old or Middle English, was called hound--rather than that term meaning a specific sort of dog (compare German Hund).
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