glove compartment

American

noun

a compartment in the dashboard of an automobile for storing small items.

glove compartment British

noun

a small compartment in a car dashboard for the storage of miscellaneous articles

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of glove compartment

First recorded in 1935–40

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.

Photos from the scene of her death show kids’ toys spilling out of her glove compartment.

From Slate • Jan. 9, 2026

But the graying signal caller still had something left in the glove compartment, and if you think I typed that while speaking in a stentorian John Facenda voice, I absolutely did.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 5, 2026

As I opened the glove compartment, our hands slightly brushed each other’s, and there was a moment of excitement.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025

The body camera footage shows an exchange that became more tense when Ms. Heard let the officers know that she had a gun locked in her glove compartment.

From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2023

Bunny sighed unhappily as I pulled a pad of paper and a pencil from the glove compartment.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023