What makes a date a date? Options

[*mipadi*]

Maybe it's my relative lack of experience in the area of relationships, but there's a question that often nags at me: What makes a date a date? At first glance, this may seem like an easy answer; but it's one that seems to elude people I ask. Take, for example, these two different, yet similar, scenarios:

1. You notice a nice young member of the opposite sex with whom you go to school. You think it might be nice to take him/her out sometime—dinner, a movie, something along those lines. So you ask him/her to a movie. Is that a date or just a friendly outing, and why? How do you know? How do you make it clear one way or the other?
2. You are friends with a young member of the opposite sex. You hang out with each other on a semi-regular basis. You decide to ask him/her to a movie or dinner. Is that a date or just a friendly outing, and why? How do you know? How do you make it clear one way or the other?

[FoxBandCutie08]

I believe that a date is a planned outing with another person. Whether the person likes you or not is a totally different thing, I mean after all, anything can be a date. If you're talking relationship wise, then I would say going somewhere by yourselves and with more than friendly intentions with the other person, like you both are attracted to one another.