[deyt] 
noun, verb, dat⋅ed, dat⋅ing.| 1. | a particular month, day, and year at which some event happened or will happen: July 4, 1776 was the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. |
| 2. | the day of the month: Is today's date the 7th or the 8th? |
| 3. | an inscription on a writing, coin, etc., that shows the time, or time and place, of writing, casting, delivery, etc.: a letter bearing the date January 16. |
| 4. | the time or period to which any event or thing belongs; period in general: at a late date. |
| 5. | the time during which anything lasts; duration: The pity is that childhood has so short a date. |
| 6. | an appointment for a particular time: They have a date with their accountant at ten o'clock. |
| 7. | a social appointment, engagement, or occasion arranged beforehand with another person: to go out on a date on Saturday night. |
| 8. | a person with whom one has such a social appointment or engagement: Can I bring a date to the party? |
| 9. | an engagement for an entertainer to perform. |
| 10. | dates, the birth and death dates, usually in years, of a person: Dante's dates are 1265 to 1321. |
| 11. | to have or bear a date: The letter dates from 1873. |
| 12. | to belong to a particular period; have its origin: That dress dates from the 19th century. The architecture dates as far back as 1830. |
| 13. | to reckon from some point in time: The custom dates from the days when women wore longer skirts. |
| 14. | to go out socially on dates: She dated a lot during high school. |
| 15. | to mark or furnish with a date: Please date the check as of today. |
| 16. | to ascertain or fix the period or point in time of; assign a period or point in time to: The archaeologist dated the ruins as belonging to the early Minoan period. |
| 17. | to show the age of; show to be old-fashioned. |
| 18. | to make a date with; go out on dates with: He's been dating his best friend's sister. |
| 19. | to date, up to the present time; until now: This is his best book to date. |
| 20. | up to date, in agreement with or inclusive of the latest information; modern: Bring us up to date on the news. |
[deyt] | the oblong, fleshy fruit of the date palm, a staple food in northern Africa, Arabia, etc., and an important export. |
| date 1 (dāt) n.
v. tr.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin data, from Latin data (Romae), issued (at Rome) (on a certain day), feminine past participle of dare, to give; see dō- in Indo-European roots.] dat'a·ble, date'a·ble adj., dat'er n. |
| date 2 (dāt) n.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Old Provençal datil, from Latin dactylus, from Greek daktulos, finger, date (from its shape).] |
date convention, data
A string unique to a time duration of 24 hours between 2 successive midnights defined by the local time zone. The specific representation of a date will depend on which calendar convention is in force; e.g., Gregorian, Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew etc. as well as local ordering conventions such as UK: day/month/year, US: month/day/year.
Inputting and outputting dates on computers is greatly complicated by these localisation issues which is why they tend to operate on dates internally in some unified form such as seconds past midnight at the start of the first of January 1970.
Many software and hardware representations of dates allow only two digits for the year, leading to the year 2000 problem.
Unix manual page: date(1), ctime(3).
(1997-07-11)
Date
the fruit of a species of palm (q.v.), the Phoenix dactilifera. This was a common tree in Palestine (Joel 1:12; Neh. 8:15). Palm branches were carried by the Jews on festive occasions, and especially at the feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15).
date
In addition to the idiom beginning with date also see bring up to date; double date; make a date; out of date; to date; up to date.