1.
[syn: dative, dative case]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Dative \Da"tive\, a. [L. dativus appropriate to giving, fr. dare
to give. See 2d Date.]
1. (Gram.) Noting the case of a noun which expresses the
remoter object, and is generally indicated in English by
to or for with the objective.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Law)
(a) In one's gift; capable of being disposed of at will
and pleasure, as an office.
(b) Removable, as distinguished from perpetual; -- said of
an officer.
(c) Given by a magistrate, as distinguished from being
cast upon a party by the law. --Burril. Bouvier.
[1913 Webster]
Dative executor, one appointed by the judge of probate, his
office answering to that of an administrator.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Dative \Da"tive\, n. [L. dativus.]
The dative case. See Dative, a., 1.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
dative
n 1: the category of nouns serving as the indirect object of a
verb [syn: dative, dative case]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
DATIVE. That which may be given or disposed of at will and pleasure. It
sometimes means that which is not cast upon the party by the law, or by a
testator, but which is given by the magistrate; in this sense it is that
tutorship is dative, when the tutor is appointed by the magistrate. Lec.
Elem. Sec. 239; Civ. Code of L. art. 288, 1671.