Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) to have an affair with someone, to be going out together on a number of pre-arranged days; thus double date, for two couples to join each other on the same engagement; dated, ‘booked’ for an engagement or meeting; dating, going on dates.

1915		R. Lardner ‘Alibi Ike’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 46: We kept tryin’ to date him up for shows and parties.
1927		(con. 1920s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 470: I went to lunch with him and tried to date him up.
1927		C. Woofter ‘Dialect Words and Phrases from West-Central West Virginia’ in AS II:8 352: He dated with that girl for last night.
1930		‘Armitage Traill’ Scarface Ch. i: Just a mere child without even a car and tryin’ to date me up.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 230: If you’re not dated up, Limey [...] come round to my place. I wanna talk to ya.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Little Miss Marker’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 305: These characters keep trying to date up the nurses.
1945		A. Kober Parm Me 33: I got her dated up to take her out some night.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 48: I don’t want you dating other guys.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 44: I’d double-dated with that bastard a couple of times.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 31: You’ll date some other fellows.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 46: The girl may be ‘picked up’ one night and ‘dated’ by the boy who partnered her then.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 188: So we dated. Pretty soon Sarah was in love with me.
1999		Guardian Rev. 9 July 4: Bianca [...] is keen to date boys, but her strict dad says she can’t.
2000		Guardian G2 13 Jan. 9: There is a rumour going on about Kenneth Branagh and I dating.

2. to work as a prostitute.

1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 252: [of two prostitutes working together] ‘Me and her have double-dated a couple of johns now and then’.
2013		Buzzfeed 25 July 🌐 ‘Do you date?’ ‘I’m married,’ I told her. [...] ‘No, I mean, do you trick?’.

3. to have sexual intercourse with a prostitute.

1997		L. Pettiway Workin’ It 46: I didn’t know he was a cop [...] But we did date and he gave me fifty dollars, and then he showed me his badge.
2000		P. Earley Super Casino 319: Gray [a prostitute] liked being with David [a client], and she knew he was falling in love with her. By this time, they had been ‘dating’ for three months.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 193: ‘you two datun?’ ‘Yeah, and we’re not police. Get in the car’.