glove
Americannoun
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gloves
plural
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a covering for the hand made with a separate sheath for each finger and for the thumb.
verb (used with object)
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gloves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gloved,
past participle, past
-
gloving
present participle
-
to cover with or as if with a glove; provide with gloves.
-
to serve as a glove for.
idioms
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throw down the glove. gauntlet.
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handle with kid gloves. kid gloves.
-
hand and glove. hand.
-
take up the glove. gauntlet.
noun
-
(often plural) a shaped covering for the hand with individual sheaths for the fingers and thumb, made of leather, fabric, etc See also gauntlet 1
-
any of various large protective hand covers worn in sports, such as a boxing glove
-
informal in an intimate relationship or close association
-
informal to treat with extreme care
-
informal (of a dispute, argument, etc) conducted mercilessly and in earnest, with no reservations
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
glovesimple
-
glovessimple
-
have glovedperfect
-
has glovedperfect
-
am glovingprogressive
-
are glovingprogressive
-
is glovingprogressive
-
have been glovingperfect progressive
-
has been glovingperfect progressive
Past
-
glovedsimple
-
had glovedperfect
-
was glovingprogressive
-
were glovingprogressive
-
had been glovingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glove
before 900; Middle English; Old English glōf; cognate with Old Norse glōfi
Explanation
A glove is a piece of clothing that you wear on your hand, to protect it or keep it warm. Most people wear a pair of gloves, unless — of course — they are imitating Michael Jackson. Cold-weather gloves are soft and warm, made from fabrics like wool, polar fleece, or leather. There are also gloves that protect the skin on your hands while you're cleaning, using chemicals, or washing dishes; and gloves that prevent the spreading of germs, worn by food handlers and health care workers. Athletes sometimes wear gloves as well, like boxing gloves or the gloves worn by hockey goalies.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In that sense, the court works hand in glove with the American people to create this mythology of the oracular balls-and-strikes court.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
In the longer term, earnings could recover once the glove maker raises selling prices from 3Q to pass on higher input costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Roki Sasaki has been tremendous since the All-Star break — that new glove has been a giant success — but he’s still never started a postseason game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
A glove discovered in her neighbourhood also yielded no DNA evidence.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Jax is right behind her, carrying a baseball he tosses high and catches in his glove.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
The gloves have been adopted in detention centers, law enforcement agencies and jails across the country, though apparently none in California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Believing the fight was over, Colon's corner team removed his gloves and he was disqualified.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
When sent a list of questions about the devices, which resemble thick work gloves, Compliant Technologies declined to comment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
But videos posted by the manufacturer, Compliant Technologies of Richmond, Ky., show that the effects of the gloves are anything but soft.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Then I put my gloves on and dug around on your workbench until I found an old padlock, hanging open on a hook.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
A gloved hand comes out of the picture to grab them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
During a stop at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, an owl perched on her gloved arm made her squeal like the girl she had been during her first visit there on a grade-school field trip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Nancy Guthrie, 84, disappeared on the night of January 31-February 1, with recovered security camera footage showing a masked and gloved person prowling outside her home in the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
Despite the park’s nonconformity, during the 1950s organized tournaments and other games were played there almost every day, even in winter, with players wrapped in mufflers and hats, awkwardly moving their pieces with gloved hands.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Pope, standing baseball style, miscued Cameron Green on 42 and Root only survived gloving behind in the same over because Green overstepped.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2023
The Santa Margarita shortstop couldn’t have played it any better, gloving the ball and firing it to first.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2022
In public, we now cover and constrain ourselves as never before, masking our faces, gloving our hands.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2020
He wasn’t far from gloving a ball that snuck through the gate, either - an enduring issue for England’s No3.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2020
They could not but smile, but waited for the king, who, when he had had his laugh out, explained the allusion to the Conqueror’s leather dressing and gloving lineage.
From Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln A Short Story of One of the Makers of Mediaeval England by Charles L. (Charles Latimer) Marson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
