glove
Americannoun
-
gloves
plural
-
a covering for the hand made with a separate sheath for each finger and for the thumb.
verb (used with object)
-
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
-
throw down the glove. gauntlet.
-
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:
Inside a glove box filled with protective nitrogen gas, team members sealed individual rock particles in airtight containers.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026
Paxton’s own conduct fits that structure like a glove.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
Mookie Betts drove a deep fly ball to the warning track, momentarily silencing the crowd, until Mitchell closed his glove around it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Yes, it flew in on the goalkeeper's side of the wall and he didn't lay a glove on it.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
He turns and waves his glove at me.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
Deila Ray, who spent a decade as a pipe welder and now teaches the trade in high school, said she had to shrink her own gloves with fire when she started in the industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The man needed gloves, he told her, and she recommended a pair.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
At the new Shanghai store Super Zhuanzhuan, shoppers have to wear black gloves to avoid their greasy fingers touching the products.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026
Wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne remains in the squad but loses the gloves for the second Test, with Ryan Rickelton in line to keep wicket.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
After noon dinner in a landscape of steaming innards, coiling sausage, and long pans of scrapple, Eugene Hammond was suddenly before us, drawing on his driving gloves, lowering his goggles.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Yet few scenes in cinema depict the dismal reality of an ill-advised new marriage better than that of Rosy sitting on her new bed and rather despairingly running her gloved hand across its brass frame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Roebuck immediately recognized the long gun in the man’s gloved hands.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 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
Anderson flayed a boundary to make it two to win but then gloved a Neil Wagner short ball down leg.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Ben leans over, and with his gloved hands, pushes my eyelids shut.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
"This business is very significant because it's been here since 1862. It's the last of the old gloving businesses in Yeovil," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2023
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
Gustav Nyquist dumped the puck from the neutral zone on goal and Stalock had trouble handling the bounce, gloving it out in front where Foligno was all alone for a putback attempt.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
