“date” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. the number of a day in a month or year, or a day when something will happen or happened in the past ○ Put today’s date on the cheque. ○ What’s the date next Wednesday? ○ The dates of the exhibition have been changed. ○ The date of the next meeting has been fixed for Wednesday, June 10th. ○ Do you remember the date of your girlfriend’s birthday? □ departure date, date of departure the day on which you leave somewhere 2. a time agreed for a meeting, usually between romantic partners ○ We made a date to meet at the Italian restaurant. ○ He asked her out on a date. □ a blind date a meeting arranged between two people who have never met before 3. a small sweet brown fruit of the date palm ■ verb 1. to write the date on something ○ The cheque was dated the 15th of June. ○ You forgot to date the cheque. 2. □ to date from or back to to exist since ○ This house dates from or dates back to the 17th century. 3. to give the date of something, e.g. an old piece of wood, a monument or an antique ○ The bowl has been dated to 1500 BC. 4. especially US to agree to meet someone regularly as a romantic partner ○ He’s dating my sister. 5. to become old-fashioned ○ Little black dresses don’t date.

n.[F. datte, L. dactylus, fr. Gr. , prob. not the same word as da•ktylos finger, but of Semitic origin.] (Bot.) The fruit of the date palm; also the date palm itself. This fruit is somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft pulp, sweet, esculent, and wholesome, and inclosing a hard kernel. Date palm, or Date tree (Bot.), the genus of palms which bear dates, of which common species is Phœnix dactylifera. See Illust. — Date plum (Bot.), the fruit of several species of Diospyros, including the American and Japanese persimmons, and the European lotus (D. Lotus). — Date shell, or Date fish (Zoöl.), a bivalve shell, or its inhabitant, of the genus Pholas, and allied genera. See Pholas.

n. [F. date, LL. data, fr. L. datus given, p. p. of dare to give; akin to Gr. , OSlaw. dati, Skr. da. Cf. Datum, Dose, Dato, Die.]
1. That addition to a writing, inscription, coin, etc., which specifies the time (as day, month, and year) when the writing or inscription was given, or executed, or made; as the date of a letter, of a will, of a deed, of a coin. etc. “And bonds without a date, they say, are void.” Dryden.
2. The point of time at which a transaction or event takes place, or is appointed to take place; a given point of time; epoch; as the date of a battle. “He at once,
Down the long series of eventful time,
So fixed the dates of being, so disposed
To every living soul of every kind
The field of motion, and the hour of rest.” Akenside.
3. Assigned end; conclusion. [R.] “What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date.” Pope.
4. Given or assigned length of life; dyration. [Obs.] “Good luck prolonged hath thy date.” Spenser. “Through his life’s whole date.” Chapman. To bear date, to have the date named on the face of it; — said of a writing.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dated; p. pr. & vb. n. Dating.] [Cf. F. dater. See 2d Date.]
1. To note the time of writing or executing; to express in an instrument the time of its execution; as to date a letter, a bond, a deed, or a charter.
2. To note or fix the time of, as of an event; to give the date of; as to date the building of the pyramids. We may say dated at or from a place. “The letter is dated at Philadephia.” G. T. Curtis. “You will be suprised, I don’t question, to find among your correspondencies in foreign parts, a letter dated from Blois.” Addison. “In the countries of his jornal seems to have been written; parts of it are dated from them.” M. Arnold.

v. i. To have beginning; to begin; to be dated or reckoned; — with from. “The Batavian republic dates from the successes of the French arms.” E. Everett.