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Number vs Date - What's the difference?

number | date |

As nouns the difference between number and date

is that number is (countable) an abstract entity used to describe quantity while date is .

As a verb number

is to label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).

As an adjective number

is (numb).

number

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Etymology 1

(etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (countable) An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
  • (countable) A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer
  • (countable, mathematics) A member of one of several classes: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, quaternions.
  • Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No'' or '' (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.
  • Quantity.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.
  • A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.
  • (countable, informal) A telephone number.
  • * 2001 , E. Forrest Hein, The Ruach Project, Xulon Press, page 86:
  • “[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number ?”
  • * 2007 , Lindsey Nicole Isham, No Sex in the City: One Virgin's Confessions on Love, Lust, Dating, and Waiting, Kregel Publications, page 111:
  • When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number'?” Well, I don’t give my ' number to guys I don’t know.
  • (grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.
  • (now, rare, in the plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
  • * 1635 , (John Donne), The Triple Foole :
  • Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verse.
  • (countable) A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.
  • (countable, informal) A person
  • * 1968 , Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel, Little, Brown, page 40:
  • I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number ."
  • * 1988 , Erica Jong, Serenissima, Dell, page 214:
  • "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number , "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"
  • * 2005 , Denise A. Agnew, Kate Hill & Arianna Hart, By Honor Bound, Ellora's Cave Publishing, page 207:
  • He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.
  • (countable, informal) An item of clothing, particularly a stylish one
  • * 2007 , Cesca Martin, Agony Angel: So You Think You've Got Problems..., Troubador Publishing Ltd, page 134:
  • The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.
  • * 2007 , Lorelei James, Running with the Devil, Samhain Publishing, Ltd, page 46:
  • "I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."
  • (slang, chiefly, US) A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought form a dealer.
  • * 2009 , (Thomas Pynchon), Inherent Vice , Vintage 2010, page 12:
  • Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number , put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips
  • (dated) An issue of a periodical publication.
  • the latest number of a magazine
    Synonyms
    * (mathematical number) scalar
    Hyponyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * abundant number * algebraic number * binary number * cardinal number * complex number * decimal number * deficient number * do a number on * have someone's number * hexadecimal number * house number * hyperreal number * hypercomplex number * imaginary number * irrational number * meandric number * natural number * nice round number * number-cruncher * number-crunching * number field * number line * number one * number two * number theory * numberless * ordinal number * opposite number * perfect number * phone number * prime number * rational number * real number * round number * serial number * surreal number * take a number * telephone number * transcendental number * transfinite number * whole number * without number * (number)
    See also
    * (grammatical numbers) singular,? dual,? trial,? quadral,? paucal,? plural

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).
  • Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.
  • To total or count; to amount to.
  • I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.
    Derived terms
    * number among

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    From numb + .

    Adjective

    (head)
  • (numb)
  • date

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) datte, from (etyl) dactylus, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en 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.
  • We made a nice cake from dates .
  • The date palm.
  • There were a few dates planted around the house.
    Derived terms
    * date fish * date mussel * date palm * date plum * date shell * date tree

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) date, and Die.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • * 1681 , (John Dryden), The Spanish Friar
  • And bonds without a date , they say, are void.
  • 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. A specific day.
  • the date for pleading
  • * 1844 , (Mark Akenside), (The Pleasures of the Imagination), Book II
  • 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.
    Do you know the date of the wedding?
    We had to change the dates of the festival because of the flooding.
  • A point in time
  • You may need that at a later date .
  • (rare) Assigned end; conclusion.
  • * (rfdate) (Alexander Pope),
  • What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date .
  • (obsolete) Given or assigned length of life; duration.
  • * (rfdate) (Edmund Spenser),
  • Good luck prolonged hath thy date .
  • * (rfdate) (George Chapman) (translator), (Homer) (author), (w) , Volume 1, Book IV, lines 282–5,
  • 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.
  • A pre-arranged social meeting.
  • I arranged a date with my Australian business partners.
  • A companion when one is partaking in a social occasion.
  • I brought Melinda to the wedding as my date .
  • A meeting 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.
    We slept together on the first date .
    The cinema is a popular place to take someone on a date .
    Derived terms
    * * blind date * date night * date of birth * date rape * double date * due date * expiry date, expiration date * sell-by date * speed date * transaction date * use-by date
    Descendants
    * German:

    Verb

    (dat)
  • To note the time of writing or executing; to express in an instrument the time of its execution.
  • * (rfdate) (Joseph Addison)
  • You will be surprised, I don't question, to find among your correspondencies in foreign parts, a letter dated from Blois.
  • * 1801 [1796 January], (William Cobbett), A New Year's Gift'', ''Porcupine's works , footnote, page 430,
  • 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.
  • * 1913 [1863], (Marcus Aurelius), , G. Bell and Sons, page 227,
  • 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.
  • To note or fix the time of, as of an event; to give the date of.
  • To determine the age of something.
  • To take (someone) on a series of dates.
  • To have a steady relationship with, to be romantically involved with.
  • * 2008 May 15, NEWS.com.au , "Jessica Simpson upset John Mayer dating Jennifer Aniston":
  • Jessica Simpson reportedly went on a drinking binge after discovering ex-boyfriend John Mayer is dating Jennifer Aniston.
  • Of a couple, to be in a romantic relationship.
  • To become old, especially in such a way as to fall out of fashion, become less appealing or attractive, etc.
  • To have beginning; to begin; to be dated or reckoned.
  • * (rfdate) (Edward Everett)
  • The Batavian republic dates from the successes of the French arms.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}
    Usage notes
    * To note the time of writing one may say dated at' or ' from a place.

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

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