dative - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

da·tive

Audio Help [dey-tiv] Pronunciation Key Grammar

–adjective

1.	(in certain inflected languages, as Latin, Greek, and German) noting a case having as a distinctive function indication of the indirect object of a verb or the object of certain prepositions.

–noun

2.	the dative case.

3.	a word or form in that case, as Latin regi in regi haec dicite meaning “tell this to the king.”

[Origin: 1400–50; late ME datif < L datīvus (casus) dative (case), equiv. to dat(us) given (see date¹) + -īvus -ive; trans. of Gk dotik (ptôsis)

]

—Related forms

da·ti·val

Audio Help [dey-tahy-vuh

l] Pronunciation Key, adjective

da·tive·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
dative

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

da·tive Audio Help   (dā'tĭv) Pronunciation Key
adj.   Of, relating to, or being the grammatical case that marks the recipient of action, that often indicates the indirect object of the verb, and that can be used with prepositions or other function words corresponding in meaning to English to and for.

n.

The dative case.
A word or form in the dative case.

[Middle English datif, from Latin (cāsus) datīvus, (case) of giving (translation of Greek dotikē ptōsis), from datus, past participle of dare, to give; see dō- in Indo-European roots.]

da'tive·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

dative
noun
the category of nouns serving as the indirect object of a verb

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Dative

Da"tive\, a. [L. dativus appropriate to giving, fr. dare to give. See 2d Date.]

1. (Gram.) Noting the case of a noun which expresses the remoter object, and is generally indicated in English by to or for with the objective.

2. (Law) (a) In one's gift; capable of being disposed of at will and pleasure, as an office. (b) Removable, as distinguished from perpetual; -- said of an officer. (c) Given by a magistrate, as distinguished from being cast upon a party by the law. --Burril. Bouvier.

Dative executor, one appointed by the judge of probate, his office answering to that of an administrator.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Dative

Da"tive\, n. [L. dativus.] The dative case. See Dative, a., 1.

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