mittn.
/mɪt/, U.S. /mɪt/ 1. A covering for the hand which leaves the fingers and thumb exposed; a fingerless glove, spec. one worn by women in the 18th and 19th cent.; = mitten n. 2a.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for hands > [noun] > glove > types of > not covering fingers
muff1748
mitten1755
mitt1757
1757 W. Provoost Let. 25 Aug. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) II. 659 Please to send me the following things Vizt. 1 Dozen of Black mitts. 1 piece of Black Durant fine.
1765 Universal Mag. 37 324/2 Silk mitts, and silk gloves.
1772 A. G. Winslow Diary 17 Jan. (1894) 17 I was dress'd in my..black mitts & 2 or 3 yards of blue ribbin.
1795 ‘P. Pindar’ Lousiad: Canto V (new ed.) 19 Transform an old silk stocking into mits.
1811 A. de Beauclerc Ora & Juliet I. 42 Dudley laughed, and took hold of her cherry fingers, that peeped out of her mits.
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. III. 575/2 Lace mitts.
1886 Pop. Sci. Monthly Nov. 208 The hands and forearms of the women are tattooed with mitts, as in the Marshall Islands.
1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 117. 977/1 Ladies' full elbow length mercerized mitts.
1990 Face (BNC) Fingerless mitts from Millenium.
2.
a. = mitten n. 1. Also (colloquial): a glove.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for hands > [noun] > mitten
mitten1287
cuff1362
muffle1575
mitt1812
muffler1824
1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs ii. 185 Waste Silk..may be also spun to make stockings, mits, &c. but they will be coarse and ordinary.
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 189 Mitts, gloves.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. i. 24 Mitts of seal-skin well wadded with sledge-straw.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Mitts, a protection for the hands, covering the thumb in one space and the fingers in another, so that men wearing them can still handle ropes.
1903 Daily Rec. & Mail 30 Dec. 7 A novel device..for persons who do not know how to swim. It consists of a mitt or gauntlet... When fitted to the hand it forms webs between the fingers and the thumb.
1908 Mrs. L. Hubbard Woman's Way through Unknown Labrador 213 They gave George a piece of deer-skin dressed without the hair, ‘to line a pair of mits’, they said.
1970 Kay & Co. (Worcester) Catal. 1970–71 Autumn–Winter 288 Mitts for every age and taste from the classic simplicity of sheepskin to..the ‘wet look’.
1990 Compl. Angler's Guide Spring 49/1 One of the big problems with glove wearing, and mitts more so than conventional fingered gloves, is the degree of hindrance they can bring to practical fishing.
b. Boxing. A boxing glove; (more generally, also in martial arts) any protective covering for the hand.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > boxing-glove
muffle1747
muffler1747
boxing glove1780
glove1847
mitt1877
pillow1882
pug-glove1938
1877 F. Remington Sel. Lett. 13 Nov. (1988) i. 16 When..he interests the Gov. to put on the ‘mitts’ with him, it is another affair...When he get [sic] old enough I'll learn him to ‘box’.
1903 O. Kildare My Mamie Rose 71 Any one..could always get from a dollar and a half to two dollars for ‘donning the mitts’.
1991 D. Mitchell Winning Karate Competition (BNC) 12 Always train with these mitts to get used to the additional range they allow.
c. Baseball. A protective glove worn by the catcher or first baseman (originally with a single pocket for all four fingers). Also: a lighter form of protective glove worn by a fielder.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for hands > [noun] > glove > types of > for specific purpose > gloves
housemaid's glove1846
mitt1892
baseball mitt1893
1892 Independent (N.Y.) 2 June 31 (advt.) A complete line of ‘Spaulding's’ Baseball Goods, including Baseballs, Mitts, Catching Gloves, Masks and Baseball Bats.
1902 Sears Catal. 326 Boys' Canvas Mitt, made of canvas throughout; a good, cheap mitt for boys; well stuffed.
1949 National Geographic Mag. June 738/1 On the ball field the Indians waved their mitts.
1994 Harper's Mag. May 79/2 Two young men in Maryland sweatshirts leap up from the crowd above first base and one waves his old brown mitt.
3. slang (originally U.S.) and regional.
a. A hand or fist. Usually in plural.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > hand > [noun]
handeOE
cleche?c1225
fista1300
dallea1500
clutcha1529
gripea1555
famble1567
claw1577
golla1586
patte1586
manus1598
pickers and stealers1604
fore-foota1616
pud1654
daddle?1725
fin1785
mauley1789
feeler1825
maniple1829
flipper1832
flapper1834
grappler1852
duke1874
mitt1893
1893 F. P. Dunne in B. C. Schaaf Mr. Dooley's Chicago (1977) 53 Th' ghost accused O'Connor's uncle iv pickin' up th' mit he thrun away an' demanded him to give it back because th' poor ghost couldn't cut his meat with only wan dook.
1901 ‘H. McHugh’ John Henry 10 I'm sitting on the sofa with one mitt lying carelessly on the family album and the other bunched around a $1.70 cane.
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 74 He was also handy with the mits.
1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely ii. 12 ‘Freeze the mitts on the bar.’ The barman and I put our hands on the bar.
1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren x. 197 The commonest challenge is ‘Put up your mitts’.
1989 Time Out 18 Oct. 185/1 Laying your mits on any of the following requires little more than a short stretch to the telephone.
b. big mitt: a method of cheating at cards (see quot. 1905); (hence) a financially corrupt scheme undertaken by a holder of public office.
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society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > dishonesty > trick or scheme > large
big stuff1883
big mitt1903
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card-sharping or cheating > [noun] > methods of
palm1664
high game1665
palming1671
slick1674
brief1680
gammoning1700
shoulder-dash1711
bridge1773
weaving1803
bridging1843
palmistry1859
slipping1864
stocking1887
big mitt1903
1903 Daily Chron. 27 May 7/2 A ‘big mit,’..is a big boodle game, a graft.
1905 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 137/1 At the ‘big mitt’ game alone, an ingenious method of swindling by means of a stacked hand at stud poker, a vast profit was made.
1996 G. Keillor in Time 22 Apr. 110/1 TQO is the heavy hand of Big Business. You want to see a big mitt, this is it.
c. the frozen (also icy) mitt: an unwelcoming reception; intentionally unfriendly treatment. the glad mitt: a warm or friendly reception; = glad hand at glad adj. 4e.
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1903 J. London in Pilgrim Dec. 6/2 ‘Gave you the icy mit, eh?’ The moon-faced young man laughed and slapped his thighs.
1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 255/2 Glad mitt, warm welcome.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 156 He tried to make up to me but I gave him the frozen mit.
1937 M. Sharp Nutmeg Tree ix. 111 I expected any number of black eyes, Julia darling, but not the frozen mitt.
1960 A. Prior in Pick of Today's Short Stories XI. 179 She'd have taken it and then handed me the frozen mitt.
Compounds
mitt camp n. U.S. slang a palmist's or fortune-teller's booth, tent, etc.
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1907 Billboard 25 Feb. 102/3 Concessions all sold except ham and bacon, mit camp, candy floss, aluminum ware and hoop-la.
1927 K. Nicholson Barker 9 She is the proprietress of the fortune-telling booth, or as it is known in carnival parlance, the Mitt Camp.
1985 E. Dundy Elvis & Gladys xiii. 211 He sometimes ran a mit camp, i.e. a fortune-teller's booth.
mitt joint n. U.S. slang (a) a gambling house in which cheating takes place; (b) = mitt camp n.
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1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 59 A ‘mitt joint’ is a gambling house where victims are ‘steered’ for fleecing by means of deceptively ‘sure thing’ hands.
1923 C. R. Cooper Under Big Top 60 I have seen a couple halt before a ‘mitt joint’ where a greasy Mexican or Syrian or anything else but a gypsy stands.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §626/7 Mitt camp or joint, a fortune teller's tent or booth.
1998 Independent 19 Nov. 11 Berry patch. Mitt joint. Nut straight... The feted attraction of the gambling movie Rounders is..Matt Damon, yet the film's trump card is..what you hear: the sound of a private language batted crisply back and forth.
mitt reader n. U.S. slang a palmist; a fortune-teller.
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1928 Amer. Speech 3 414 Mitt reader, a palmist, or fortune teller.
1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) xiv. 120 How do you know? You a mitt reader like your mother.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
mittv.
/mɪt/, U.S. /mɪt/ U.S. slang.
1. transitive. To greet or congratulate (a person) with a handshake; to shake (a person's hand).
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1908 H. C. Fisher in San Francisco Examiner 3 June 13/3 This..photograph..shows Mr. Mutt in the act of being mitted by the Czar.
1935 N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 53 Mit me, brother, I just made a pardon.
1939 P. Sturges Great McGinty in Five Screenplays (1986) 103 You'll have to kiss a lotta babies and mitt a lotta guys.
1950 Sat. Evening Post 11 Nov. 73 She expressed herself as simply dyin' to mitt the mitt of a post-office inspector.
2. transitive. Boxing. To acknowledge (spectators) by raising the hands above the head, esp. as a gesture of triumph. Also (with up): to raise (the hands) in this way. Also in extended use.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > box [verb (transitive)] > actions
parry1672
punish1801
pink1810
shy1812
sling1812
mug1818
weave1818
prop1846
feint1857
counter1861
cross-counter1864
slip1897
hook1898
unload1912
to beat a person to the punch1923
mitt1930
tag1938
counterpunch1964
1930 W. R. Burnett Iron Man i. iii. 27 Prince Pearl was sitting in his corner and mitting the crowd.
1952 Time 4 Aug. 16 She tramped to the speaker's stand splendidly corseted... She clasped her hands over her head and mitted the crowd.
1955 R. Graziano & R. Barber Somebody up there likes Me 255 And I would mitt 'em up and give him a big smile and a wink.
2000 Washington Post (Nexis) 20 Feb. w12 [The boxers] blew kisses, bowed and mitted the crowd.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1757v.1908