date n [Folk-etym of dake n] Cf bait n1 4, date v
In marble play: = dake n; hence phrr grab dates (and run).
1936 Chula Vista Star (CA) 31 Jan 7/4, The boys have a “grab dates” as they call it. Everybody dates in and the game goes along smoothly until somebody yells, “grab dates.” Then everybody makes a dive for the dates and comes out with as many as he is able to pick up. He is allowed to keep what he gets. 1942 Berrey–Van den Bark Amer. Slang 665.3, Marbles put in the ring as a stake. . . dates. Ibid 665.6, I got my dates, I have won the same number of marbles as I had “dated up.” 1942 Anaheim Bulletin (CA) 29 Jan 5/6, The owners are embroiled like so many boys at a marble game after one of them has yelled “grab dates and run.” Which is exactly what the owners, almost to a man are doing—grabbing all they can. [DARE Ed: Author of this column grew up in Van Nuys CA.] 1953 Goodwin It’s Good 198 sIL, The cheaper pee wees, dates, and ordinary glassies were kept in two large coal buckets. 1967 Raleigh Reg. (Beckley WV) 5 June 5/6 (as of 1920s), Each player put up the same number of “stakes” or “dakes” or “dates” (depending on what part of town you were from) and all were bunched as closely as possible in the center of the ring. c1970 Wiersma Marbles Terms neIL (as of 1928), Marbles that each person contributed to the pot were called dates. The way they played in Chicago in 1928 was to draw a huge circle with a small square in the middle. Then each player put his date into this square and everyone took turns from outside the big circle and tried to hit the dates out of the square. 1984 Columbian (Vancouver WA) 26 Dec sec D 27/3 (as of 1940s), Our fondest memories are of an unwritten rule called “grab dates and run.” When the school bell rang, marking the end of recess, all the players were permitted to snatch as many marbles as they could from the ring and flee to the classroom with them. 2012 Bowman Don’t Play 63 sCA (as of 1930s), Marbles were separated into categories: shooters, . . laggers, . . and dates, the throwaways, chipped or imperfect marbles, the pawns, the sacrificial glass vassals, whose worth we cared little for.