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
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
The boys had only a few more innings to get the mitt and save the game!
From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon
“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
“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
“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
“You’ve held Great-Grampy JonJon’s mitt. Now we’re here to see his brother.”
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
Plus, gloves, helmets, elbow guards, leg protectors, arm sleeves, sliding mitts, cleats, turf shoes, the coolest sunglasses, Bruce Bolt batting gloves, fluorescent batting grips, socks, pants, belts and garments known simply as “ice-cream shorts.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
At the breakdown they stuck their mitts in rucks and came up offside.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
But that trophy should probably feature multiple gloves because playing multiple positions means lugging around extra mitts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2025
Trump has reportedly had a hang-up about his mitts since Greydon Carter's Spy magazine called him a "short-fingered vulgarian" three decades ago.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2024
She is becoming even more indifferent to fashion, and strides around in improvised getups, a ski jacket, an old scarf, mitts that don’t match.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
