# date

Pronunciation: US say "DAYT" /deɪt/; UK

## Noun

1. 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.
   - Simple: The day, month, and year when something happens, or as written on a letter, coin, or form.
   - _The wedding date has been set for early June._
   - _Historians still argue about the exact date of the battle._
2. A romantic meeting or outing with a lover or potential lover.
   - Simple: A romantic meeting with someone you like.
   - _She suggested a coffee date for Saturday afternoon._
   - _Their first date ended with a long walk along the river after dinner._
5. A scheduled show or appearance by a musician, band, comedian, or theater company, especially a single stop on a tour.
   - Simple: A planned show by a musician, band, comedian, or theater group, often one 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._
10. The sweet, roughly olive-shaped fruit of the palm Phoenix dactylifera, with soft pulp around a hard kernel.
   - Simple: A small, sweet brown fruit with a hard seed inside, from a palm tree.
   - _Stuffed dates with almonds are a popular treat across the Middle East._
   - _The recipe calls for one chopped date in each energy bar._
8. A person someone accompanies to a social event or outing, especially as a romantic partner.
   - Simple: The person who goes with you to a party, dance, or other event.
   - _He introduced his date to the rest of the table._
   - _Her date for the gala turned out to be an old college friend._
9. A meeting that has been arranged in advance between two or more parties.
   - Simple: A meeting that people plan ahead of time.
   - _The senator kept a lunch date with reporters despite the chaos._
   - _Let's make a date to review the budget next quarter._
12. The palm tree Phoenix dactylifera, cultivated in hot, arid regions for its sweet edible fruit.
   - Simple: A tall palm tree that grows sweet brown fruit.
13. The anus; the opening at the end of the digestive tract through which waste leaves the body. *(slang, Australia, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: The opening in the body where solid waste comes out.
   - _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._
16. An unspecified point in the past or future, spoken of generally rather than as a particular day on the calendar.
   - Simple: Some point before or after now, when the exact day is not given.
   - _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._

## Verb

3. To go out with someone romantically, on one or more dates or in a steady relationship.
   - Simple: To go out with someone because you like them in a romantic way.
   - _She started dating a nurse she met at her cousin's wedding last spring._
   - _He didn't date anyone seriously until after graduate school._
4. To have its origin or beginning at a particular time; to be reckoned from a given point.
   - Simple: To begin or start at a certain time in the past.
   - _The manuscript dates from the late ninth century._
   - _Local mining records date to the 1850s, when the first claims were filed._
6. To mark a document or piece of writing with the time, and sometimes the place, of its creation or execution.
   - Simple: To write the day, month, and year on a letter or paper.
   - _Remember to date the check before mailing it._
   - _The clerk dated and stamped each contract as it arrived._
7. To work out or state when something happened or how old something is, by evidence or scientific tests.
   - Simple: To find out or say how old something is or when it happened.
   - _Researchers dated the fossil using radiocarbon analysis._
   - _Geologists date rock layers by measuring the decay of radioactive elements._
11. To make or become old, especially in a way that falls out of fashion or loses its appeal.
   - Simple: To become old-fashioned, or to make something seem old-fashioned.
   - _Special effects from the 1990s date badly on modern screens._
   - _Nothing dates a movie faster than its soundtrack._

## Noun

14. An end appointed or assigned to something; its conclusion. *(rare)*
   - Simple: The end or finishing point that something is given.
15. The allotted span of a life or of something's existence; its appointed duration. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The length of time that a person or thing is given to live or last.

## Origin

**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.
**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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/date (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).