glove

noun \ ˈgləv \

Updated on: 19 Apr 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

Perdomo fought back, tossing his glove at Arenado as the bullpens emptied and players joined in the fight.

— dave quinn, PEOPLE.com, "Baseball Brawls! 4 Teams — Including the Yankees and Red Sox — Fight on the Field: See the Videos," 12 Apr. 2018
With some exceptions, legislators kept their gloves on.

— alex shephard, The New Republic, "Mark Zuckerberg’s Trip to the Principal’s Office," 11 Apr. 2018
Perdomo ran at Arenado and threw his glove at the all-star third baseman.

— michael katz, idahostatesman, "Punches thrown and benches cleared in Padres-Rockies game at Coors Field | Idaho Statesman," 11 Apr. 2018
Chapman is known for his glove and has gotten off to a hot start at the plate.

— susan slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, "A’s Matt Olson is a force at first as well as at the plate," 9 Apr. 2018
Defenseman Klas Dahlbeck scored his first goal of the season, a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Elliott to the glove side and gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with 6:15 left in the first.

— sam carchidi, Philly.com, "Flyers move closer to clinching playoff spot as Jake Voracek's late goal bails out Brian Elliott," 5 Apr. 2018
His cotton manuscript gloves left no one in any doubt that Spitalfields was unendurable to anyone of refinement.

— andrew liptak, The Verge, "Read an excerpt from Luna author Ian McDonald’s heartbreaking new time-travel romance," 31 Mar. 2018
Evan Rodrigues beat Howard glove side at 4:51 but Danny DeKeyser restored the buffer with a goal midway through the period.

— helene st. james, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Red Wings 'lose' on draft positioning, beat Buffalo Sabres, 6-3," 29 Mar. 2018
The left-hander struggled to keep fastballs on his glove side down in the strike zone.

— maria torres, kansascity, "Royals 11, Cubs 9: Soler and Schwindel's bats keep recent power surge alive | The Kansas City Star," 18 Mar. 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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

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

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
Kennedy exited after four-plus innings and 94 pitches, when Lorenzo Cain failed to glove a routine fly ball to center and Yolmer Sanchez reached third on the relay.

— maria torres, kansascity, "Royals get walk-off win in 10 innings against White Sox," 21 July 2017
Eddie Rosario, who shifted from left to center after Byron Buxton suffered a lacerated finger in the sixth, later failed to glove Josh Reddick’s soft liner for a two-run, go-ahead double.

— mike berardino, Twin Cities, "Twins’ Ervin Santana does what he can, but bullpen melts down against Houston," 29 May 2017
Then after two straight Kentucky singles, Watson shifted into high gear to glove a diving liner from UK's Evan White for the second out.

— ron higgins, NOLA.com, "Tigers batter Kentucky ace into submission in a 10-run rule SEC tourney win," 26 May 2017
And USD center fielder Colton Waltner made the play of the season in the eighth inning with a leaping catch while crashing into the outfield wall to glove a would-be home run by Pepperdine’s Ben Rodriguez.

— kirk kenney, sandiegouniontribune.com, "USD sweeps Pepperdine, but Toreros edged out for WCC Tournament berth," 21 May 2017
Jake McCabe let loose a shot from inside the blue line that Bernier appeared to easily track but failed on his attempt to glove it.

— eric stephens, Orange County Register, "Ducks salvage a point as they fall to Sabres in a shootout," 17 Mar. 2017

First Known Use of glove

15th century

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