Word.ws English Dictionary

date

/deɪt/

date noun: 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.

date: the fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a...
Image: Thamizhpparithi Maari, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

date (plural dates)

  1. 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.
    • We made a nice cake from dates.
  2. The date palm.
    • There were a few dates planted around the house.
  3. (Australia, New Zealand) The anus.
    • 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.1996, Peter Doyle, Get Rich Quick
    • Black Superman could kiss his date, the little faggot.2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 88

Noun (2)

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.
  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.
  3. A point in time.
    • You may need that at a later date.
  4. (rare) An assigned end; a conclusion.
    • 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...1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
    • What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date.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
  5. (obsolete) A given or assigned length of life; duration.
    • Good luck prolonged hath thy date.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 45
    • 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.1611-15, George Chapman (translator), Homer (author), The Odysseys of Homer, Volume 1, Book IV, lines 282–5
  6. A pre-arranged meeting.
    • I arranged a date with my Australian business partners.
    • "Why, Mr. Nisbet! I thought you were in New York."
      "I had a telegram this morning, calling the date off,"1903, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Lieutenant-Governor, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, page 121
  7. One's companion for social activities or occasions, especially a romantic partner.
    • I brought Melinda to the wedding as my date.
  8. 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
    • You will be surprised, I don't question, to find among your correspondencies in foreign parts, a letter dated from Blois.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...
  2. (transitive) To note or fix the time of (an event); to give the date of.
    • The writer dates the festival on June 21st, which is probably a mistake.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 202
  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. (broadly, transitive) To have a steady relationship with; to be romantically involved with.
    • Jessica Simpson reportedly went on a drinking binge after discovering ex-boyfriend John Mayer is dating Jennifer Aniston.2008 May 15, “Jessica Simpson upset John Mayer dating Jennifer Aniston”, in NEWS.com.au
    Synonyms:
    go out, see
  6. (broadly, reciprocal) To have a steady relationship with each other; to be romantically involved with each other.
    • They met a couple of years ago, but have been dating for about five months.
    Synonyms:
    go out, see
  7. (ambitransitive) To make or become old, especially in such a way as to fall out of fashion, become less appealing or attractive, etc.
    • This show hasn't dated well.
    • The comedian dated himself by making quips about bands from the 1960s.
    Synonyms:
    age, elden, obsolesce
  8. (intransitive) To have beginning; to begin; to be dated or reckoned.
    • The Batavian republic dates from the successes of the French arms.1826, Edward Everett, The Claims of Citizens of the United States of America on the Governments of Naples, Holland, and France
    • 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...1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

Proper noun capitalized: Date

Date (plural Dates)

  1. A surname.
  2. A ghost town in Perkins County, South Dakota, United States.

date meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

date in Hindi

fruit of the date palm
खजूर khajūr
that which specifies the time of writing, inscription etc.
दिनांक dināṅk, तारीख़ tārīx, तिथि tithi
point of time at which a transaction or event takes place
तारीख़ tārīx, तिथि tithi
pre-arranged social meeting
डेट ḍeṭ

date in Tamil

fruit of the date palm
பேரீச்சம்பழம் pērīccampaḻam, தித்தி titti
meeting with a lover or potential lover; a person so met
டேட் ṭēṭ

date in Marathi

date
खजूर khaj̈ūr, तिथी tithī, तारीख tārīkh
the date
दिनांक dināṅka

date in Urdu

fruit of the date palm
کھجور khajūr
that which specifies the time of writing, inscription etc.
تارِیخ tārīx
point of time at which a transaction or event takes place
تارِیخ tārīx
More languagesFewer languages
date in Bengali
খেজুর khejur, খোরমা khōrma, তারিখ tarikh
date in Telugu
ఖర్జూరము kharjūramu, తేది tēdi
date in Malayalam
ഈന്തപ്പഴം īntappaḻaṁ
date in Kannada
ಖರ್ಜುರ kharjura
date in Punjabi
ਖਜੂਰ khajūr, کَھجُور khajūr
date in Gujarati
ખજૂર khajūr, ખુરમો khurmo
date in Odia
ଖଜୁର khajura
date in Sanskrit
खर्जूर kharjūra
date in Sinhala
දිනය dinaya
date in Assamese
খেজুৰ khezur, খাজুৰ khazur, খাজুৰি khazuri, তাৰিখ tarikh
date in Nepali
छोडा choḍā, मिति miti, तिथि tithi, डेट ḍeṭ
date in Pashto
تاريخ tārix
date in Tagalog
datiles, taburaw, petsa, araw
date in Arabic
تَمْرَة tamra, تَمْر tamr, بَلَح balaḥ, رُطَب ruṭab
date in Malay
kurma, tamar, tarikh, tanggal
date in Indonesian
kurma, tanggal, kencan, tarikh
date in Persian
خرما xormâ, خرمارطب xormâ-rotab, تَارِیخ tārīx, تاریخ târix
date in Thai
อินทผลัม in-tá-pà-lam, วันที่ wan-tîi, นัด nát, เดท dèet
date in Vietnamese
trái chà là, ngày, ngày tháng, hẹn
date in Myanmar
ရက်စွဲ rakcwai:, နေ့စွဲ ne.cwai:
Kashmiri
کھٔزٕر khạzụr, تٲریٖخ tạ̄rīkh

Examples of date in a sentence

  • Do you know the date of the wedding?
  • We had to change the dates of the festival because of the flooding.
  • And bonds without a date, they say, are void.1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please...
  • 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.1844, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination, Book II:
  • 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.1796 January 1, William Cobbett, A New Year's Gift to the Democrats, footnote; republished in Porcupine's Works, volume 2, London: For...
  • 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.1865, Matthew Arnold, “Marcus Aurelius”, in Essays in Criticism, London: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC, page 281:

All 40 example sentences with date

Synonyms of date

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of date

Forms of date

Noun
pluraldates
Verb
third-person singular presentdates
present participledating
past participledated
pastdated
Proper noun
pluralDates

Past tense of date: dated

Plural of date: dates

Origin of date

From Middle English date, from Old French date, datil, datille, from Latin dactylus (likely via Old Provençal datil), from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”) (from the resemblance of the date to a human finger), probably a folk-etymological alteration of a word from a Semitic source such as Arabic دَقَل (daqal, “variety of date palm”) or Hebrew דֶּקֶל (deqel, “date palm”). Doublet of dactyl and dactylus. Displaced native Old English fingeræppel, literally "finger-apple".

From Middle English date, from Old French date, from Late Latin data, from Latin datus (“given”), past participle of dare (“to give”); from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”). Doublet of data.

Two main origins: * Borrowed from Marathi दाते (dāte), from Sanskrit दाता (dātā), nominative singular of दातृ (dātṛ, “giver, donor”). * Borrowed from Japanese 伊達 (Date, “a city in Hokkaido Prefecture”), a habitational surname.

Words formed from date

Phrases with date

55 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with date

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about date

What does date mean?
Date means 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.
What is date in Hindi?
Date in Hindi is खजूर (khajūr), तारीख़ (tārīx), तिथि (tithi). See Date meaning in Hindi.
How do you use date in a sentence?
Do you know the date of the wedding?
What part of speech is date?
Date can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce date?
Date is pronounced /deɪt/.
What is the plural of date?
The plural of date is dates.

Words near date in the dictionary

  1. datazones
  2. datcha
  3. datchas
  4. Datchet
  5. Datchworth
  6. date
  7. date back
  8. date bread
  9. date coaching
  10. date fish
  11. Date Line

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: date (page history and authors); Date (page history and authors); खजूर (Marathi) (page history and authors); දිනය (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “date.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/date. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.