date

Noun

date (plural dates)

2. 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. [from 14th c.]

   We made a nice cake from dates.

4. The date palm. [from 14th c.]

   There were a few dates planted around the house.

5. (Australia, New Zealand) The anus. [from 20th c.]
   • 1996, Peter Doyle, Get Rich Quick:

     The bullet took the middle finger of his right hand clean off […] . ‘He sure won't be sticking that finger up his date again,’ said Max.

   • 2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 88:

     Black Superman could kiss his date, the little faggot.

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) An assigned end; a 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) A 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), The Odysseys of Homer, Volume 1, Book IV, 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.

   • 1903, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Lieutenant-Governor, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, page 121:

     "Why, Mr. Nisbet! I thought you were in New York."
     "I had a telegram this morning, calling the date off,"

7. One's companion for social activities or occasions, especially a romantic partner.

   I brought Melinda to the wedding as my date.

9. 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.

Verb

date (third-person singular simple present 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

   • 1699, Joseph Addison, Letter to Rt. Hon. Charles Montagu, Esq., Blois, France; republished in Lucy Aikin, chapter 3, in The Life of Joseph Addison, volume 1, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1843, page 79:

     You will be surprised, I don't question, to find among your correspondencies in foreign parts, a letter dated from Blois.

   • 1796 January 1, William Cobbett, A New Year's Gift to the Democrats, footnote; republished in Porcupine's Works, volume 2, London: For Cobbett and Morgan, 1801, page 430:

     I keep to the very words of the letter; but that, by "this State," is meant the State of Pennsylvania, cannot be doubted, especially when we see that the letter is dated at Philadelphia.

   • 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.
   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 202:

     The writer dates the festival on June 21st, which is probably a mistake.

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; see also Thesaurus:date

   • 2008 May 15, “Jessica Simpson upset John Mayer dating Jennifer Aniston”, in NEWS.com.au:

     Jessica Simpson reportedly went on a drinking binge after discovering ex-boyfriend John Mayer is dating Jennifer Aniston.

6. (reciprocal, by extension) To have a steady relationship with each other; to be romantically involved with each other.

   Synonyms: go out, see; see also Thesaurus:date

   They met a couple of years ago, but have been dating for about five months.

7. (transitive, intransitive) 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; see also Thesaurus:to age

   This show hasn't dated well.

   The comedian dated himself by making quips about bands from the 1960s.

   • 1971 April 30, “Research by Experiment”, in Nature, volume 230, number 5296, →DOI, page 603:

     In these days of decimalization and metrication it is a pity that SI units were not used as this will date a very useful little book prematurely.

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.

   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

Noun

date c (singular definite daten, plural indefinite dates)

1. a date (meeting with a lover or potential lover)

   Synonyms: rendezvous, stævnemøde

Verb

date (imperative date, infinitive at date, present tense dater, past tense datede, perfect tense har datet)

1. to date (someone)

Derived terms

• blind date

Related terms

• daten

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dat/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

date f (plural dates)

1. date (point in time)

Further reading

• “date”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛjt/

Noun

date f (plural dates)

1. (slang, anglicism) date (romantic meeting)

Noun

date m (plural dates)

1. (slang, anglicism) date (person you go on a romantic meeting with)

Further reading

• https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/clefsfp/index-fra.html?lang=fra&lettr=indx_catlog_d&page=9iwGrR_cgy6U.html

Noun

date f

1. plural of data

Verb

date

1. inflection of dare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Participle

date

1. feminine plural of dato

Noun

date oblique singular, f (oblique plural dates, nominative singular date, nominative plural dates)

1. date (point in time)