What does dating actually mean!?

Beats me.  As an 84 yo, the romance language has changed considerably from when I was courting.  And there's one word, courting, that isn't even used any more.  That used to mean when a man pursued a woman romantically.

Now men pursue women sexually rather than romantically it appears.  And to a lesser extent women pursue men that way too.  

Now men and women have to be "in love" before they eventually love each other.  And that's the purpose of the so-called relationship, which starts with the couple being in love; so they cohabitate until they either love each other and marry, or they fail to love each other and eventually break off the relationship.

Dating used to mean, for me, the man asks the woman to go out with him for some activity or event of the day or evening.  Something done on a specific date.  Thus the term dating.  And if the man takes a woman out on several daily adventures, the couple is dating.  And here's the difference between then and now.

Back then, there was no implication that there would be sex between the couples who date.  Apparently now there is the implication that if there is more than a few dates with the same person, sex is expected.  And if the dating persists more than a few months, that morphs into the modern day relationship that I outlined earlier here.

when dating you can date many  at the same time as long as you let them know so they dont think you are both an item 

Dating is simply going out with someone for the purpose to get to know them or because you enjoy spending time with them.  Dating is what you do to decide WHO  you want to be in an exclusive relationship with.

"Dating" does NOT imply an EXCLUSIVE relationship.  If you are "only dating", then you can "date" as many different people as you want to.  Until you and that other person DEFINE the dating relationship as EXCLUSIVE - then just the term "dating" just means spending time with another person - and it could be a different person every night and still be considered "dating".

https://www.zoosk.com/date-mix/single-life/dating-...