mitt
mitt
1 American
[mit]
/ mɪt /
noun
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mitts
plural
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Baseball.
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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.
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a somewhat similar glove but with less padding and having sections for the thumb and one or two fingers, used by first basemen.
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a mitten.
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Slang. a hand.
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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.
mitt.
2
American
abbreviation
mitt
British
/ mɪt /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
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:
At the end of the video, Barrymore let her hair down and snapped a selfie against one of the walls in the RV, on which an oven mitt could be seen hanging from a hook.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
Will Smith crouched, his left knee on the ground and his mitt grazing the dirt as his Team USA teammate, Mason Miller, strode towards the plate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
I'm staying in shape and enjoying some mitt work.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
It’s a familiar problem to anyone who had a baseball mitt as a kid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
After a while Neeley came in, crawled under his cot and pulled out a ragged catcher’s mitt.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
“Now, Jason, I’m sure no one stole your mitt. It’s probably just lost in the pile of gear here.”
From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon
“You’ve held Great-Grampy JonJon’s mitt. Now we’re here to see his brother.”
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
“Maybe if you explain everything, Coach Quinn will let you guys play, but I still won’t have my mitt. I can’t play without it.”
From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon
“Someone stole my lucky mitt. I can’t play without it!”
From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon
“And we all want to win this game. I can’t think of any reason someone else would have stolen the mitt. Can you?”
From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon
Among these: cut-resistant kitchen gloves, heat-resistant oven mitts, gardening work gloves, vacuum-cleaner belts and appliance drive belts for washers and dryers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
That explains the oversized glove, which for Anderson felt like a jai alai cesta compared with the modest mitts infielders use.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2025
The interview process involved "lots of weird and wonderful tasks", he said, including having to put up a tent while blindfolded and wearing oven mitts.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2024
As a result, when goes outside she has to bring oven mitts with her in case she is forced to touch metal railings, since the metal will burn her hands.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2024
Michael spread his hands, which were only slightly smaller than baseball mitts.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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.
