in Grammar, the third case in the declension of nouns: expressing the state or relation of a thing to whose profit or loss some other thing is referred. See GRAMMAR.

It is called dative, because usually governed by a verb, implying something to be given to some person. As, commodare Socrati, "to lend to Socrates;" utilis republicae, "useful to the commonwealth;" perniciuos ecclesiae, "pernicious to the church."

In English, where we have properly no cases, this relation is expressed by the sign to or for.