mitt

/mɪt/

/mɪt/

Other forms: mitts

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!"

Definitions of mitt

1. noun

   the handwear used by fielders in playing baseball
   synonyms: baseball glove, baseball mitt, glove

   type of:

   baseball equipment

   equipment used in playing baseball
2. noun

   the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
   “he extended his mitt”

   synonyms: hand, manus, paw

   types:

   clenched fist, fist

   a hand with the fingers clenched in the palm (as for hitting)

   hooks, maulers, meat hooks

   large strong hand (as of a fighter)

   right, right hand

   the hand that is on the right side of the body

   left, left hand

   the hand that is on the left side of the body

   type of:

   extremity

   that part of a limb that is farthest from the torso