mitt

¹ American  

[mit] / mɪt /

noun

1. Baseball.

   1. a rounded glove with one internal section for the four fingers and another for the thumb and having the side next to the palm of the hand protected by a thick padding, used by catchers.

   2. a somewhat similar glove but with less padding and having sections for the thumb and one or two fingers, used by first basemen.

2. a mitten.

3. Slang. a hand.

4. a glove that leaves the lower ends of the fingers bare, especially a long one made of lace or other fancy material and worn by women.

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mitt. ² American  

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) send.

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mitt British  

/ mɪt /

noun

1. any of various glovelike hand coverings, such as one that does not cover the fingers

2. short for mitten

3. baseball a large round thickly padded leather mitten worn by the catcher See also glove

4. (often plural) a slang word for hand

5. slang a boxing glove

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Etymology

Origin of mitt¹

First recorded in 1755–65; short for mitten

Origin of mitt.²

From the Latin word mitte

Explanation

If you want to play on a baseball team, get a mitt, a protective leather glove. And if you want to take a cake out of the oven, get an oven mitt, a giant heat-proof mitten. A mitt protects a hand. Since mitts were introduced to baseball in the 19th century, every player on a team uses one. Before that, players used their bare hands — or they improvised gloves with the fingers cut off, to slightly pad the catching hand. Today's mitts are wide and sturdy. An oven mitt isn’t helpful in baseball, but it also protects hands. In fact, mitt can also mean "hand" informally: "Get your mitts off my chocolate cupcake!"

Example Sentences

He now keeps a catcher’s mitt on his desk—in Dick’s green.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026

Out came bowling coach Morne Morkel to catch extra work with his baseball mitt.

From BBC • Feb. 15, 2026

“That target, moving around with a chest protector on and a hand mitt, is me.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2026

It’s a familiar problem to anyone who had a baseball mitt as a kid.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

“Is that clear? We’ll find your mitt, Jason—but you can’t just accuse people of stealing.”

From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon

Related Words

• capture
• detention
• imprisonment
• incarceration
• jailing