All 9 Uses

literally
in
Lock and Key, by Sarah Dessen
(Edited)

Either they were really happy and grateful, or chose to literally blame the messenger, taking out their ire at the entire airline industry on us.
Chpt 2

literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
Still, the woman literally jumped in the air. Completely vertical, feet off the ground, coffee spilling out of the cup backward, splattering the pavement.
Chpt 3 *

literally = actually (not figuratively; not an exaggeration)
...she'd literally tossed her hands up as one of our classmates struggled to define 'blue collar,'
Chpt 4
'Remember,' Ms. Conyers was saying, 'you're not just asking what your term means literally, but what it means to the person you're speaking with.
Chpt 6
If I went to college--at least this way, with him and Cora backing me--I'd be in debt, both literally and figuratively, at the one time when all I wanted was to be free and clear, owing no one anything at all.
Chpt 6
One day, when she had literally let me do nothing but dust for hours, I finally asked her.
Chpt 7

literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
You saved my ass yesterday. Literally.
Chpt 9
I couldn't have done it without you. Literally.
Chpt 17

literally = actually (not figuratively; not an exaggeration)
Nate, who was a friend to me before I even knew what a friend was. Who picked me up, literally, over and over again, and never asked for anything in return except for my word and my understanding.
Chpt 17 *

literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)

Definitions:

(1) (literally as in: literally--not figuratively)
actually true using the basic meaning of the words (not an exaggeration, metaphor, or other type of figurative speech)
(2) (literally as in: literally at death's door)
an intensifier (to intensify what is said -- especially a metaphor)

Since literally can mean actually true, but can also be used to intensify a metaphor, the reader has to use context to know what the word means.

For example, if you read "She stabbed him in the back," you would probably assume she betrayed him. But if you read it in a murder mystery where the victim was stabbed, you might assume you were being told that she actually stabbed him.

Because confusion can arise from this kind of usage, many authorities discourage using literally to intensify a metaphor--especially in formal usage.
(3) (literal as in: a literal translation)
word for word
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
Less common and more specific meanings of literal include:
- an earlier or original meaning of a word -- as in "In Japanese the literal meaning of ronin was a 'samurai without a master,' but it is now used to describe a student who did not pass the entrance exam and is without a school."
- lacking imagination -- as in "She has a literal mind."
- a fixed or hard-coded value in a computer program -- as in "Find every instance of the literal in the source code."
- related to letters -- as in "In algebra we use literal notation as when 'x' represents a value."