date

DAYT/deɪt/

Pluraldates

Verbdates, dating, dated

16 meanings of date

Practice

1
calendar daynouncountable
A particular day, usually given by day, month, and year, on which something happens or is written, or the record of it on a document or coin.
The wedding date has been set for early June.
Historians still argue about the exact date of the battle.
UsageAsk What's the date? for the day and month, and What day is it? for Monday, Tuesday and so on.
Similarday
2
romantic outingnouncountable
A romantic meeting or outing with a lover or potential lover.
She suggested a coffee date for Saturday afternoon.
Their first date ended with a long walk along the river after dinner.
UsageYou go on a date with someone, or ask someone out on a date.
Similarrendezvous
3
be togetherverbtransitive
To go out with someone romantically, on one or more dates or in a steady relationship.
She started dating a nurse she met at her cousin's wedding last spring.
He didn't date anyone seriously until after graduate school.
UsageSay she's dating a nurse (not ~~incorrect: dating with a nurse~~).
Similarsee
4
go back toverbintransitive
To have its origin or beginning at a particular time; to be reckoned from a given point.
The manuscript dates from the late ninth century.
Local mining records date to the 1850s, when the first claims were filed.
UsageFollowed by from, to, or back to a time: the castle dates from the 1100s.
Similaroriginate
5
nouncountable
A scheduled show or appearance by a musician, band, comedian, or theater company, especially a single stop on a tour.
The singer canceled three European dates after losing her voice.
The comic's final date of the tour is a hometown show at the old opera house.
UsageCommon in tour talk: tour dates, add a date, cancel dates.
Similarshow, gig, engagement
6
write the dayverbtransitive
To mark a document or piece of writing with the time, and sometimes the place, of its creation or execution.
Remember to date the check before mailing it.
The clerk dated and stamped each contract as it arrived.
UsageOften passive: a letter dated 3 May, dated from or at a place.
Note
The writing verb for letters, bonds, deeds and charters, and it often records where as well as when. A letter can be dated from a place, as in Addison's "a letter dated from Blois" (1699), or dated at one, as in the letter Cobbett describes as "dated at Philadelphia."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Addison wrote the words a letter dated from Blois. en.wiktionary.org
Addison's letter dates from 1699. gutenberg.org
7
work out whenverbtransitive
To work out or state when something happened or how old something is, by evidence or scientific tests.
Researchers dated the fossil using radiocarbon analysis.
Geologists date rock layers by measuring the decay of radioactive elements.
UsageOften date something to a time, or by a method: dated to 1650, dated by radiocarbon analysis.
8
companionnouncountable
A person someone accompanies to a social event or outing, especially as a romantic partner.
He introduced his date to the rest of the table.
Her date for the gala turned out to be an old college friend.
UsageOften bring a date to a party, or have a date for the dance.
Similarpartner, companion, escort
9
appointmentnouncountable
A meeting that has been arranged in advance between two or more parties.
The senator kept a lunch date with reporters despite the chaos.
Let's make a date to review the budget next quarter.
UsageYou make a date to do something, then keep or call off the date; often with a word like lunch (a lunch date).
Similarappointment, engagement, meeting, rendezvous
Note
The neutral meeting, with no romance implied: business partners can have one, and so can a senator lunching with reporters. Guy Wetmore Carryl's The Lieutenant-Governor (1903) already has a telegram "calling the date off."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Guy Wetmore Carryl wrote The Lieutenant-Governor. gutenberg.org
The Lieutenant-Governor was first published in book form in 1903. gutenberg.org
The novel contains the exact phrase “calling the date off,” referring to a telegram; young Nisbet speaks these words. gutenberg.org

Less common meanings

10
fruitnouncountable
The sweet, roughly olive-shaped fruit of the palm Phoenix dactylifera, with soft pulp around a hard kernel.
Stuffed dates with almonds are a popular treat across the Middle East.
The recipe calls for one chopped date in each energy bar.
11
age badlyverbtransitive or intransitive
To make or become old, especially in a way that falls out of fashion or loses its appeal.
Special effects from the 1990s date badly on modern screens.
Nothing dates a movie faster than its soundtrack.
UsageWithout an object, it often takes an adverb: dates badly, dates quickly. With an object: that hairstyle dates her or date yourself.
Similarage
Note
Used with an object, it means something makes a thing look old, as when Nature in 1971 warned that skipping SI units would date a useful little book prematurely.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The Nature review appeared in 1971. nature.com
The review warned that not using SI units would prematurely date a useful little book. en.wiktionary.org
12
palm treenouncountable
The palm tree Phoenix dactylifera, cultivated in hot, arid regions for its sweet edible fruit.
13
backsidenounslangvulgarAustraliaNew Zealandcountable
The anus; the opening at the end of the digestive tract through which waste leaves the body.
He told the umpire exactly where he could shove his whistle, right up his date.
One more crack like that and you'll get a boot up the date.
UsageUsed in phrases such as up the date and kiss my date.
Similarbum, backside
Note
It belongs with the fruit word, not the calendar one.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The anus sense belongs to the fruit word's etymological group, separate from the calendar word. en.wiktionary.org
14
nounrare
An end appointed or assigned to something; its conclusion.
What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date.
1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”
Note
A rare, literary use in which a date is where something stops. Alexander Pope's line in The Rape of the Lock, "What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date," means the blade ends what time would have left standing. Read it beside the obsolete "lifespan" sense: that one measures the whole term, while this one marks its close. It is a word for reading, not for use.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Date has a rare sense meaning an assigned end or conclusion. lawfulpath.com
The quoted line occurs in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock; the note expands the original spelling wou'd to would. en.wikisource.org
The line describes steel destroying what time would spare. en.wikisource.org
The obsolete lifespan sense denotes duration, whereas the conclusion sense denotes its end. lawfulpath.com
15
nounobsolete
The allotted span of a life or of something's existence; its appointed duration.
Good luck prolonged hath thy date.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Note
Early Modern verse uses the word for the full stretch of a life, and the sense is now obsolete. Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590) has "Good luck prolonged hath thy date," and George Chapman's Homer speaks of "his life's whole date." Words like prolong, lengthen and whole go with it because the date here is a span, not a single point. Readers now meet it only in older poetry.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
Early Modern verse uses date to mean a person's allotted lifespan. gutenberg.org
Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene was first published in 1590. gla.ac.uk
The quoted words occur in The Faerie Queene, with modernized spelling. gutenberg.org
George Chapman's translation of Homer contains the phrase his life's whole date. en.wiktionary.org
Lengthen can accompany date in its lifespan sense; the preceding quotations also establish prolong and whole. upload.wikimedia.org
16
nouncountable
An unspecified point in the past or future, spoken of generally rather than as a particular day on the calendar.
The committee agreed to revisit the proposal at a later date.
The inscription was plainly carved at some earlier date, though no record says exactly when.
UsageCommon phrases include at a later date, at some earlier date, and at some future date.
Similartime, point

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of date apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 10, 12–13

This 'date' (the fruit) came through Middle English and Old French from Latin dactylus, from Ancient Greek dáktulos ('finger'), likely because the fruit resembles a human finger. That Greek word was probably a folk-etymological reshaping of a Semitic word, such as Arabic daqal or Hebrew deqel ('date palm'). It is a doublet of dactyl and dactylus.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

The fruit name passed through Middle English and Old French from Latin dactylus. en.wiktionary.org
Latin dactylus comes from Ancient Greek dáktulos, meaning 'finger'. en.wiktionary.org
The association with 'finger' probably reflects the fruit's resemblance to a human finger. en.wiktionary.org
The Greek fruit name probably reflects a folk-etymological alteration of a Semitic word, with Arabic daqal and Hebrew deqel proposed as examples. en.wiktionary.org
Date, dactyl, and dactylus are doublets. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 1–9, 11, 14–16

Date in these senses starts from the Latin verb dare ("to give"), which comes from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- ("to give"). Its past participle datus ("given") is the source of Late Latin data, which became date in Old French and then Middle English, and the word is a doublet of data.