glove
Americannoun
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a covering for the hand made with a separate sheath for each finger and for the thumb.
verb (used with object)
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to cover with or as if with a glove; provide with gloves.
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to serve as a glove for.
idioms
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throw down the glove. gauntlet.
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handle with kid gloves. kid gloves.
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hand and glove. hand.
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take up the glove. gauntlet.
noun
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(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
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any of various large protective hand covers worn in sports, such as a boxing glove
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informal in an intimate relationship or close association
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informal to treat with extreme care
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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
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glovesimple
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glovessimple
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have glovedperfect
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has glovedperfect
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am glovingprogressive
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are glovingprogressive
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is glovingprogressive
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have been glovingperfect progressive
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has been glovingperfect progressive
Past
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glovedsimple
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had glovedperfect
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was glovingprogressive
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were glovingprogressive
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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:
A glove discovered in her neighbourhood also yielded no DNA evidence.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Cartoon-sized glove gives Dodgers’ pitcher his mojo back.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
Manager Dave Roberts and his pitching coaches haven’t been particularly forthcoming, either, feigning ignorance about the glove that looks as big as Sasaki’s head.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Taveras said after the game that he was merely trying to block the rodent’s path with his glove.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Everything fit like a glove, and once again, Seven found herself in awe of her new friend’s talent.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
The initial search focused on video footage that showed a masked person wearing gloves and a backpack appearing to tamper with a camera at her front door the morning she disappeared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
The white gloves are an obvious tell, even before you even get to early film shorts that the House of Mouse would rather you forget or overlook altogether.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Dino saved all the signed bats and batting gloves that Brady and Trey won off Pujols and Trout, storing them in a room full of baseball memorabilia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The gloves are off with a World Cup semi-final on the line.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
I shake his palm, the dirt on both our gloves rubbing off and falling in a shower.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
And when James Rew gloved the hostile Will O'Rourke late in the day, England were left 222-6, 169 behind with the tail exposed.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
The divers floated to them, their gloved hands touching the surface, searching for seams where the pipelines were at their weakest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
I picture Xander’s broad smile, the clapping of his gloved hands, that thunderous sound that humans can make.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
Kohli did not score in his nine balls before gloving 23-year-old O’Rourke, playing his fifth Test, to leg slip.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
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 Marson, Charles L. (Charles Latimer)
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.
