a meeting arranged in advance
"she asked how to avoid kissing at the end of a date"
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"
a particular day specified as the time something happens
"the date of the election is set by law"
"we hope to get together at an early date"
"Mother's Day is always on the same date"
sweet edible fruit of the date palm with a single long woody seed
"After visiting the Middle East, she brought back a basket full of fresh dates to share with her neighbors."
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.
"The missing date on the old contract confused everyone until we found the original draft tucked inside the filing cabinet."
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.
In plain English: A date is a romantic outing where two people spend time together, often holding hands or going to dinner.
"They went on a romantic date to see a movie last night."
Usage: Use "date" as a noun to refer to a specific day, month, and year written on a document or object to indicate when it was created. This term does not apply to romantic meetings or fruits unless those contexts are explicitly clear from the surrounding sentence.
assign a date to; determine the (probable) date of
"Scientists often cannot date precisely archeological or prehistorical findings"
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"
To note the time or place of writing or executing; to express in an instrument the time of its execution.
"The lawyer asked me to date every contract before handing it over for signing."
In plain English: To go out with someone as a romantic partner.
"We need to date the documents before sending them to the court."
Usage: Use "date" as a verb when you want to record the specific day something happened or was created, such as signing a document with the current year and month. Do not use it to mean meeting someone romantically in this formal context, as that is a different usage entirely.
A surname, from Japanese.
"At the family reunion, Uncle Date shared stories about his ancestors who migrated to Hawaii in the 1920s."
The English word "date" comes from the Latin dactylus, which was borrowed from Ancient Greek for "finger" because the fruit resembles a human finger. Although it entered Middle English via Old French, its ultimate origin is likely a Semitic term for the date palm that was altered by speakers to sound like the Greek word.