English
date
see also: Date
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English date, from Old French date, datil, datille, from Latin dactylus, from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (from the resemblance of the date to a human finger), probably a folk-etymological alteration of a word from a Semitic source such as Arabic دَقَل or Hebrew דֶּקֶל.

Noun

date (plural dates)

  1. The fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft, sweet pulp and enclosing a hard kernel.
    We made a nice cake from dates.
  2. The date palm.
    There were a few dates planted around the house.
Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English date, from Old French date, from Late Latin data, from Latin datus, past participle of dare; from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃-.

Noun

date (plural dates)

  1. The addition to a writing, inscription, coin, etc., which specifies the time (especially the day, month, and year) when the writing or inscription was given, executed, or made.
    the date of a letter, of a will, of a deed, of a coin, etc.
    US date : 05/24/08 = Tuesday, May 24th, 2008. UK date : 24/05/08 = Tuesday 24th May 2008.
    • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗, (please specify the page number):
      And bonds without a date, they say, are void.
  2. A specific day in time at which a transaction or event takes place, or is appointed to take place; a given point of time.
    the date for pleading
    The start date for the festival is September 2.
    • 1844, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination, Book II:
      He at once, Down the long series of eventful time, So fix'd the dates of being, so disposed To every living soul of every kind The field of motion, and the hour of rest.
    Do you know the date of the wedding?
    We had to change the dates of the festival because of the flooding.
  3. A point in time.
    You may need that at a later date.
  4. (rare) Assigned end; conclusion.
    • 1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce:
      But because he is but briefe, and these things of great consequence not to be kept obscure, I shall conceave it nothing above my duty either for the difficulty or the censure that may passe thereon, to communicate such thoughts as I also have had, and do offer them now in this generall labour of reformation, to the candid view both of Church and Magistrate; especially because I see it the hope of good men, that those irregular and unspirituall Courts have spun their utmost date in this Land; and some beter course must now be constituted.
    • 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC ↗:
      What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date.
  5. (obsolete) Given or assigned length of life; duration.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 45:
      Good luck prolonged hath thy date.
    • 1611-15, George Chapman (translator), Homer (author), Odyssey, Volume 1, Book IV,[http://www.bartleby.com/111/chapman17.html ] lines 282–5,
      As now Saturnius, through his life's whole date,
      Hath Nestor's bliss raised to as steep a state,
      Both in his age to keep in peace his house,
      And to have children wise and valorous.
  6. A pre-arranged meeting.
    I arranged a date with my Australian business partners.
  7. One's companion for social activities or occasions, especially a romantic partner.
    I brought Melinda to the wedding as my date.
  8. A romantic meeting or outing with a lover or potential lover, or the person so met.
    We really hit it off on the first date, so we decided to meet the week after.
    The cinema is a popular place to take someone on a date.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

date (dates, present participle dating; simple past and past participle dated)

  1. (transitive) To note the time or place of writing or executing; to express in an instrument the time of its execution.
    to date a letter, a bond, a deed, or a charter
    • 1865, Matthew Arnold, “Marcus Aurelius”, in Essays in Criticism, London: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC ↗, page 281 ↗:
      In these countries much of his Journal seems to have been written; parts of it are dated from them; and there, a few weeks before his fifty-ninth birthday, he fell sick and died.
  2. (transitive) To note or fix the time of (an event); to give the date of.
  3. (transitive) To determine the age of something.
    to date the building of the pyramids
  4. (transitive) To take (someone) on a date, or a series of dates.
  5. (transitive, by extension) To have a steady relationship with; to be romantically involved with.
    Synonyms: go out, see, Thesaurus:date
  6. (reciprocal, by extension) To have a steady relationship with each other; to be romantically involved with each other.
    Synonyms: go out, see, Thesaurus:date
    They met a couple of years ago, but have been dating for about five months.
  7. (ambitransitive) To make or become old, especially in such a way as to fall out of fashion, become less appealing or attractive, etc.
    Synonyms: age, elden, obsolesce, Thesaurus:to age
    This show hasn't dated well.
    The comedian dated himself by making quips about bands from the 1960s.
  8. (intransitive, with from) To have beginning; to begin; to be dated or reckoned.
    • 1826, Edward Everett, The Claims of Citizens of the United States of America on the Governments of Naples, Holland, and France:
      The Batavian republic dates from the successes of the French arms.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:
      He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
Date
Etymology

Two main origins:

  • Borrowed from Marathi दाते, from Sanskrit दाता, nominative singular of दातृ ("giver, donor").
  • Borrowed from Japanese 伊達, a habitational surname.
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. A ghost town in Perkins County, South Dakota.


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