1. [n]  sweet edible fruit of the date palm with a single long woody seed
2. [n]  a meeting arranged in advance; "she asked how to avoid kissing at the end of a date"
3. [n]  a participant in a date; "his date never stopped talking"
4. [n]  the present; "they are up to date"; "we haven't heard from them to date"
5. [n]  the specified day of the month; "what is the date today?"
6. [n]  a particular day specified as the time something will happen; "the date of the election is set by law"
7. [n]  the particular year (usually according to the Gregorian calendar) that an event occurred; "he tried to memorizes all the dates for his history class"
8. [n]  a particular but unspecified point in time; "they hoped to get together at an early date"
9. [v]  assign a date to; determine the (probable) date of; "Scientists often cannot date precisely archeological or prehistorical findings"
10. [v]  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"
11. [v]  stamp with a date, as of a postmark; "The package is dated November 24"
12. [v]  go on a date with; "Tonight she is dating a former high school sweetheart"
13. [v]  date regularly; have a steady relationship with; "Did you know that she is seeing an older man?"; "He is dating his former wife again!"

1. \Date\, n.[F. datte, L. dactylus, fr. Gr. ?, prob. not the
   same word as da`ktylos finger, but of Semitic origin.] (Bot.)
   The fruit of the date palm; also, the date palm itself.
   
   Note: This fruit is somewhat in the shape of an olive,
         containing a soft pulp, sweet, esculent, and wholesome,
         and inclosing a hard kernel.
   
   {Date palm}, or {Date tree} (Bot.), the genus of palms which
      bear dates, of which common species is {Ph[oe]nix
      dactylifera}. See Illust.
   
   {Date plum} (Bot.), the fruit of several species of
      {Diospyros}, including the American and Japanese
      persimmons, and the European lotus ({D. Lotus}).
   
   {Date shell}, or {Date fish} (Zo["o]l.), a bivalve shell, or
      its inhabitant, of the genus {Pholas}, and allied genera.
      See {Pholas}.
   
   
   
   

2. \Date\, n. [F. date, LL. data, fr. L. datus given, p. p. of
   dare to give; akin to Gr. ?, OSlaw. dati, Skr. d[=a]. Cf.
   {Datum}, Dose, {Dato}, {Die}.]
   1. That addition to a writing, inscription, coin, etc., which
      specifies the time (as day, month, and year) when the
      writing or inscription was given, or executed, or made;
      as, the date of a letter, of a will, of a deed, of a coin.
      etc.
   
            And bonds without a date, they say, are void.
                                                  --Dryden.
   
   2. The point of time at which a transaction or event takes
      place, or is appointed to take place; a given point of
      time; epoch; as, the date of a battle.
   
            He at once, Down the long series of eventful time,
            So fixed the dates of being, so disposed To every
            living soul of every kind The field of motion, and
            the hour of rest.                     --Akenside.
   
   3. Assigned end; conclusion. [R.]
   
            What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date.
                                                  --Pope.
   
   4. Given or assigned length of life; dyration. [Obs.]
   
            Good luck prolonged hath thy date.    --Spenser.
   
            Through his life's whole date.        --Chapman.
   
   {To bear date}, to have the date named on the face of it; --
      said of a writing.
   
   

3. \Date\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dated}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Dating}.] [Cf. F. dater. See 2d {Date}.]
   1. To note the time of writing or executing; to express in an
      instrument the time of its execution; as, to date a
      letter, a bond, a deed, or a charter.
   
   2. To note or fix the time of, as of an event; to give the
      date of; as, to date the building of the pyramids.
   
   Note: We may say dated at or from a place.
   
               The letter is dated at Philadephia. --G. T.
                                                  Curtis.
   
               You will be suprised, I don't question, to find
               among your correspondencies in foreign parts, a
               letter dated from Blois.           --Addison.
   
               In the countries of his jornal seems to have been
               written; parts of it are dated from them. --M.
                                                  Arnold.
   
   

4. \Date\, v. i.
   To have beginning; to begin; to be dated or reckoned; -- with
   from.
   
         The Batavian republic dates from the successes of the
         French arms.                             --E. Everett.
   
   

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).

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).