c1440 Liber de Diversis Med. 16 (MED) Date stanes.

?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens sig. A.ij^v The thyrde Cantere is called Dacteler bycause it is in semblaunce of a Date stone and it is bygger than is the Olyuare and the fourme is suche.

1696 J. Aubrey Misc. (1721) 60 Take 6 or 10 Date-stones, dry..pulverize, and searce them.

1756 C. Smith Antient & Present State Kerry xv. 411 Barley lead ore, some specimens resembling grains of barley; and others are exactly shaped like a date stone, and of the same size.

1880 Lancet 28 Aug. 860/2 The case of a woman who swallowed a date stone, and hoped to rid herself of it by immediately taking a dose of castor oil.

1955 R. K. Dell Native Shells 37 The Date Mussel owes its name to its general resemblance to a date stone.

2010 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Apr. (Family section) 7 The cake still stands in my memory as exciting as the Sindy duffle coats she made us, toggles carefully honed from date stones.

1825 J. Rouse Beauties & Antiq. County Sussex I. 186 It was not until the year 1738, that the present steeple, built of brick, was completed. On the west side is a date-stone, with the letters N. T. P. in relief.

1855 T. H. Burrowes Pennsylvania School Archit. v. 107 A date stone of white marble will also be required, with such lettering as may be directed by the committee.

1914 Chester (Pa.) Times 24 Jan. 3/3 History does not tell when the first attempts were made to have Chester Creek spanned by bridges, but a datestone tells that the ‘turtle back’, for a long time so called on account of its shape was built in 1811.

1990 Country Life 24 May 117/1 A loose datestone of 1718, probably dislodged during the rebuilding, suggests work went on at least until then.

2006 Lancs. Life Feb. 198/1 A date stone indicates 1604 but recent work uncovered wattle and daub walls, indicating something much earlier.