Datum \Da"tum\, n.; pl. Data. [L. See 2d Date.]
1. Something given or admitted; a fact or principle granted;
that upon which an inference or an argument is based; --
used chiefly in the plural.
Any writer, therefore, who . . . furnishes us with
data sufficient to determine the time in which he
wrote. --Priestley.
2. pl. (Math.) The quantities or relations which are assumed
to be given in any problem.
Datum line (Surv.), the horizontal or base line, from which
the heights of points are reckoned or measured, as in the
plan of a railway, etc.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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