date Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the specified day of the month
    day of the month.
    • what is the date today?
  2. noun a participant in a date
    escort.
    • his date never stopped talking
  3. noun a meeting arranged in advance
    engagement; appointment.
    • she asked how to avoid kissing at the end of a date
  4. noun a particular but unspecified point in time
    particular date.
    • they hoped to get together at an early date
  5. noun the present
    • they are up to date
    • we haven't heard from them to date
  6. noun the particular day, month, or year (usually according to the Gregorian calendar) that an event occurred
    • he tried to memorizes all the dates for his history class
  7. noun a particular day specified as the time something happens
    • the date of the election is set by law
  8. noun sweet edible fruit of the date palm with a single long woody seed
  9. verb go on a date with
    • Tonight she is dating a former high school sweetheart
  10. verb stamp with a date
    date stamp.
    • The package is dated November 24
  11. verb assign a date to; determine the (probable) date of
    • Scientists often cannot date precisely archeological or prehistorical findings
  12. verb date regularly; have a steady relationship with
    go out; see; go steady.
    • Did you know that she is seeing an older man?
    • He is dating his former wife again!
  13. verb provide with a dateline; mark with a date
    • She wrote the letter on Monday but she dated it Saturday so as not to reveal that she procrastinated

WordNet

Date noun
Etymology
F. datte, L. dactylus, fr. Gr. , prob. not the same word as finger, but of Semitic origin.
Definitions
  1. (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 noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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.
Date transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. dater. See 2d Date.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Dated; present participle & verbal noun Dating
Definitions
  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.
Date intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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.

Webster 1913