To mark out plainly; to signify by a visible sign; to serve as the sign or name of; to indicate; to point out; as, the hands of the clock denote the hour.
to mean or stand for (note from your host: think of DEnote as the DEfinition of something or what it generally means, CONnote is what is being suggested or CONning you into thinking about instead!)
signify, indicate, mean, convey, name {philosophy) after Kripke, a distinction is sometimes made between denotation (which involves reference via a description) and naming in which reference is made without description