Not quite a date, where you go out with a person you might be
interested in dating and they're totally
interested (or vice versa), that you've previously met during an activity where you maybe weren't yourself (e.g. a waitress from a bar where you were totally hammered). A pre-date will normally occur at a location of one of the parties choice (generally the less interested one) where there are other people they know close by, in case the other person turns out to be a psycho (e.g. a serial rapist or axe murderer). First date activities can still happen on a pre-date (e.g. flirting, makeout, OTPHJ, etc.), but the date definitely does not count in any running total and will leave at least one of the parties clueless and
looking forward to/nervous for the actual first date.