glove

noun \ ˈgləv \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Definition of glove

1 a : a covering for the hand having separate sections for each of the fingers and the thumb and often extending part way up the arm

b : ¹gauntlet 1

2 a (1) : a padded leather covering for the hand used in baseball to catch a thrown or batted ball; specifically : one having individual thumb and finger sections usually connected with a lacing or webbing — compare mitt

(2) : fielding ability

he's got a good glove at three positions and can pinch-hit
—Casey Stengel

b : boxing glove

3 a : ¹gauntlet 3

b gloves plural : the restraints of civility

the gloves came off for the interview

See glove defined for English-language learners

See glove defined for kids

Recent Examples of glove from the Web

To walk at graduation, Riley wore latex gloves and a special bubble-front, UV-safe hood with a built-in fan under her blue graduation cap.

— maya eliahou and justin lear, CNN, "Her rare skin condition keeps her indoors, but she braved the sun to walk at graduation," 9 June 2018
Volunteers are asked to wear long pants, long-sleeve shirts, gloves and sturdy shoes.

— staff report, Aurora Beacon-News, "PrairieFest Quilt Show coming to Oswego," 8 June 2018
Manager Bruce Bochy has always liked the glove and believes in the bat.

— henry schulman, San Francisco Chronicle, "Giants’ Hernandez turning AT&T into Gorkys’ park," 7 June 2018
Unnecessary throws, ground balls that rolled under gloves and pickoffs that went astray, hindered the work of the pitchers.

— robert avery, Houston Chronicle, "Scrimmage tells Mustang all-stars the real deal is nearing," 6 June 2018
When Amber was in isolation, Mike would don a gown, gloves and a mask and jump into the day's lesson.

— jim stingl, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Stingl: Children's Hospital became girl's school. On Sunday, she graduates with her class," 5 June 2018
Rawlings, known for baseball gloves and other sports equipment, is being sold to a fund managed by Seidler Equity Partners and Major League Baseball will co-invest.

— BostonGlobe.com, "UK Cabinet backs expansion of London’s Heathrow Airport," 5 June 2018
The collision came as Nickles raced into right-center trying to track down Jessie Warren’s deep fly ball, which glanced off Nickles’ glove and over the wall for a two-run homer.

— ben bolch, latimes.com, "UCLA softball runs out of comebacks in season-ending loss to Florida State," 4 June 2018
But the ball bounced off catcher Sandy Leon's glove and caromed toward the first base dugout, and Springer hustled home on the wild pitch.

— kristie rieken, courant.com, "George Springer Leads Astros Over Red Sox," 2 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'glove.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of glove

Middle English, from Old English glōf; akin to Old Norse glōfi glove

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First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

glove

verb

Definition of glove

gloved; gloving

transitive verb

1 a : to cover with or as if with a glove

b : to furnish with gloves

2 : to catch (something, such as a baseball) in one's gloved hand

Recent Examples of glove from the Web

The Aztecs nearly got out of the inning with a double-play, but Verdon couldn’t glove a low throw from third baseman Casey Schmitt for the third out.

— kirk kenney, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Aztecs steamroll UNLV to win Mountain West tournament title," 26 May 2018
The Tigers' Nick Goodrum tried to glove it but smacked it to the ground.

— maria torres, kansascity, "Royals snap nine-game losing streak | The Kansas City Star," 20 Apr. 2018
Bruce Maxwell paused off second base to see if Carlos Correa would glove a hard grounder.

— hunter atkins, Houston Chronicle, "George Springer's RBIs help secure Astros' victory over A's," 9 May 2018
Third baseman Maikel Franco couldn’t glove a chopper by Rodriguez, who scored two batters later when Starling Marte’s pop fly fell between center fielder Odubel Herrera and backpedaling second baseman Cesar Hernandez.

— scott lauber, Philly.com, "Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins lift Phillies over Pirates again," 21 Apr. 2018
Belt ranged well off the first-base bag to glove it, then spun and looked to first – and saw no one.

— azcentral, "Missed chances add up as Diamondbacks fall to Giants," 19 Apr. 2018
Sophomore shortstop Sebastian Murillo went to his knees to glove it.

— andrew turner, latimes.com, "Fountain Valley baseball cannot solve Will Laws in loss to Los Alamitos," 12 Apr. 2018
This was a time when people were terrified to touch people with HIV, people would glove, mask and gown up in regular hospitals.

— simon perry, PEOPLE.com, "Prince Harry Shares How His Mom Princess Diana, at ‘Only 25 Years Old,’ Fought Homophobia," 12 Oct. 2017
Second baseman Brock Holt jumped to glove the ball and flipped it to first, where David Price was covering.

— USA TODAY, "Red Sox clinch AL East, top Astros 6-3; rematch in playoffs," 30 Sep. 2017

First Known Use of glove

15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

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GLOVE Defined for English Language Learners

glove

noun

Definition of glove for English Language Learners

: a covering for the hand that has separate parts for each finger
baseball : a padded leather covering for the hand that is used to catch the ball and that has individual thumb and finger sections
: a very thick, padded covering for the hand that is worn in the sport of boxing