mitt
(mɪt)
Chiefly in pl. Also mit.
[Shortened from mitten n.]
1. = mitten n. 2.
| 1765 Univ. Mag. XXXVII. 324/2 Silk mitts, and silk gloves. 1795 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Lousiad v. Wks. 1812 I. 304 Transform an old silk stocking into mits. 1811 Ora & Juliet I. 42 Dudley laughed, and took hold of her cherry fingers, that peeped out of her mits. 1828 Scott Aunt Marg. Mirror Introd., The black silk gloves, or mitts. 1851 Catal. Gt. Exhib. II. 575 Lace mitts. a 1876 H. Martineau Autobiog. I. 57 The long mits she wore. |
| transf. 1886 Pop. Sci. Monthly Nov. 208 The hands and forearms of the women are tattooed with mitts, as in the Marshall Islands. 1903 Daily Record & 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. Ibid., An elastic band which fastens the mitt to the wrist. |
2. a. = mitten n. 1.
† Also
slang, a glove.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Mitts, gloves. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 214 Waste Silk..may..be spun to make stockings, mits, &c. but they will be coarse and ordinary. 1856 Kane Arct. Explor. II. i. 24 Mitts of seal-skin well wadded with sledge-straw. 1867 Smyth 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. |
b. U.S. A protective glove worn in baseball by the catcher or first baseman.
| 1902 Sears Catal. 326 Boys' Canvas Mitt, made of canvas throughout; a good, cheap mitt for boys; well stuffed. 1949 Nat. Geogr. Mag. June 738/1 On the ball field the Indians waved their mitts. |
3. slang (orig
U.S.).
a. A hand.
b. a big mitt: a mode of swindling at cards (see
quot. 1905); hence a municipal scheme undertaken with a view to the private advantage of its promoters.
| 1896 Ade Artie xiii. 116, I thought them was gloves you had on. Gee, is them your mits? 1901 H. M{supc}Hugh 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. 1903 Daily Chron. 27 May 7/2 A ‘big mit,’..is a big boodle game, a graft. 1905 Blackw. 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. 1914 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. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 197 The commonest challenge is ‘Put up your mitts’. |
c. the glad mitt: a warm or friendly reception;
= glad hand (
glad a. 4 e);
the frozen (or icy) mitt: an unfriendly reception; rejection; the ‘cold shoulder’.
slang.| 1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 255/2 Glad mitt, warm welcome. 1907 J. London Road 187 The erstwhile hospitable farmers met us with the icy mit. 1925 Fraser & 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. iii, 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. |
d. attrib. and
Comb., as
mitt camp U.S. slang, a palmist's or fortune-teller's establishment, tent, etc.;
mitt joint U.S. slang, (
a) (see
quot. 1914); (
b)
= mitt camp;
mitt-reader U.S. slang, a palmist; a fortune-teller.
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §466/5 Mitt camp or joint, a fortune-telling establishment. Ibid. §626/7 Mitt camp or joint, a fortune teller's tent or booth. 1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) i. 4 She would..take the tickets to Palmistry Pauline's mitt⁓camp. |
| 1914 Jackson & 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 Mitt joint [see mitt camp above]. |
| 1928 Amer. Speech III. 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. |