mitten, n.
(ˈmɪtən)
Forms: 4–5 meteyn(e, metayn, myteyn(e, mytan, -en, 5 meting, 5–6 myttan, -en, 5, 7–8 mittain, 6 mytayne, myttayn, mytton, 6–8 mitton, 6, 8–9 mittan, 7 mittaine, 7– mittin, -ing, 6– mitten.
[a. F. mitaine (from 12th c.), of obscure origin; cf. F. miton gauntlet (16th c.), mitten (1738 in Littré), also Fr. dial. mite mitten, and med.L. (13th c.) mitana, mitanna mitten, mita ? mitten.]
1. a. A covering for the hand, differing from a glove in having no divisions for the fingers, but provided with a separate receptacle for the thumb; worn either for warmth, or (e.g. by hedgers and other workmen) to protect the hand from injury or pain in handling something. Also (now dial.: see Eng. Dial. Dict.) applied to a thick winter glove.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pard. Prol. 45 He þat his hand wol putte in this Mitayn He shal haue multipliyng of his grayn. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 428 Twey myteynes, as mete, maad all of cloutes; Þe fyngers weren for-werd, and ful of fen honged. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1167 And botis, cokirs, myttens [L. manicas de pellibus] mot we were. 1488 in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 393 A pare of metingis for hunting. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C iij/1 His furred mittens were of a curres skin. 1563 Homilies ii. Excess of Apparel 114 b, He that ruffleth in his..corked slippers, trimme buskins, and warme mittons, is more redy to chyll for colde, then the poore labouryng man. a 1623 Fletcher Love's Cure ii. i, Let not thy mittens abate the talons of thy authority, but gripe theft and whoredom wheresoever thou meet'st 'em. 1634 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. ii. vii. 126 December must be expressed with a horrid and fearefull aspect,..at his backe a bundle of Holly,..holding in furd Mittens the signe of Capricornus. 1662 Plymouth Col. Rec. (1855) IV. 12 There was found his capp, with his staffe and one mitting. 1667 Pepys Diary 21 Jan., The Swede's Resident..came to us out of bed in his furred mittens and furred cap. 1729 T. Consett Pres. St. Ch. Russ. 157 note, The vulgar people..with their..gloves on, which are almost as large and strong as a hedger's mittins. 1742 Middleton in Phil. Trans. XLII. 161 A large Pair of Beaver Mittings..which reach up as high as our Elbows. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxi, Hastily and confusedly searching for his worsted mittans and staff. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iii, [The crew] can get their wet mittens and stockings dried. 1884 Baby's mitten [see combination 10]. |
| fig. phrase. 1662 J. Owen Animadv. Fiat Lux 311 Such stupid blockheads, as to be imposed on with Sophistry, that they may feel through a pair of Mittens. |
b. Phrases.
to cast one's mitten: to offer a challenge (
cf. gauntlet1 1 c).
to claw up or lay up (a person's) mittens (
Sc.): to give the finishing stroke to, to kill (
cf. claw v. 8).
to handle without mittens: to treat unmercifully.
| 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde G 4, I cast him here my Mitten vpon the quarrell. 1678 Ray Prov. (ed. 2) 76 To handle without mittins. 1699 R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1711) 178 He handled the Reverend Fathers without Mittens. 1742 Forbes Jrnl. fr. Lond. in Ajax, etc. (1755) 30 They may come to lay up my mittens, an' ding me yavil, an' as styth as gin I had been elf-shot. |
c. Her.| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xviii. (Roxb.) 110/1 He beareth Gules, a left hand Male Mitton..proper. |
d. slang. pl. (
a) The hands. (
b) Boxing-gloves. (
c) Handcuffs.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Mittens, the hands. 1859 Hotten's Slang Dict., Mittens, fists. 1880 G. Webster in Sc. Nat. Dict. (1965) VI. 306/1 My lad was made fast an' a pair o' mittens clappit on wi' little mair adee. 1883 J. Greenwood Odd People 56 That's their mittens they've got tied up in that hankercher. They're fighting coves. 1937 ‘D. Hume’ Halfway to Horror 3 ‘Mittens’ are handcuffs; a padlock is a ‘monkey’. |
2. a. A sort of glove of lace or knitted work covering the forearm, wrist, and part of the hand, but not extending over the fingers; much worn by women at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and revived towards the end of it. Now more commonly
mitt.
| 1755 Johnson, Mittens, gloves that cover the arm without covering the fingers. 1762 Ann. Reg. 162 Their chief business was making silk nets, purses, and mittins. 1795 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 187 On week⁓days were black worsted mittens worn; Black silk on Sundays did her arms adorn. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 223 The sleeves came down just below the elbow, and were finished by a narrow white ruffle meeting her neat mittens. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. iii, ‘Hem!’ said Miss La Creevy, coughing delicately behind her black silk mitten. |
b. transf. See
quot.| [1899 Cf. mitten-wise, 3 below.] 1900 Daily Mail 5 Feb. 7/1 The sleeve in its full dress adaptation is called the mitten because it falls from the shoulder, though it is attached to the bodice underneath the arm, and covers the hand right down to the knuckles. |
3. Phrase (
slang or
colloq.).
to get the mitten: of a lover, to be dismissed or rejected; hence, in wider application, to be dismissed from any office or position. Similarly,
to give (a person) the mitten.
| 1838 J. C. Neal Charcoal Sk. (Bartlett), Young gentlemen that have got the mitten..always sigh. 1848 Lowell Fable for Critics 936 Here comes Dana,..Who'll be going to write what'll never be written Till the Muse, ere he thinks of it, gives him the mitten. 1851 [B. H. Hall] College Words 209 Mitten. At the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, a student who is expelled is said to get the mitten. 1867 O. W. Holmes Guard. Angel xxxiii, Some said that Susan had given her young man the mitten, meaning thereby that she had signified that his services as a suitor were dispensed with. 1884 Punch 1 Mar. 108/2 Lifeboat hands who are found shrinking, Or with fear of danger smitten, Get, not medals, but the mitten. |
4. attrib. and
Comb.,
mitten-gauntlet,
mitten-sleeve,
mitten-wise (
adv.);
mitten-beaver, the skin of a beaver used for making mittens [
cf. F.
mitaine inferior beaver-skins];
mitten crab (see
quots.);
mitten-mill, a fight with boxing-gloves.
| 1744 A. Dobbs Countries Adjacent to Hudson's Bay 26 The eight is the *Mittain Beaver, cut out for that Purpose to make Mittains, to preserve them from the Cold. |
| 1934 Times 1 Feb. 17/5 If we want an English equivalent for the German Wollhandkrabbe it might be called the *mitten crab. 1934 Nature 9 June 856/1 The pincer claws are clothed with long soft hair, and a writer in the Times has suggested ‘mitten crab’ as an appropriate name for it... The mitten crab must have been introduced into German rivers before 1912... In 1923 the species was found to be established in the..Elbe and was determined as Eriocheir sinensis. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 455/1 Mitten crab, a popular name applied to a greenish grapsoid crab, Eriocheir sinensis, with conspicuous brown tufts of long silky hairs on the pincers of the male. |
| 1898 Archæol. æliana XIX. iii. 246 The hands are covered with plate *mitten-gauntlets having gads and cuffs. |
| 1859 Matsell Vocab. s.v. (Farmer), *Mitten-mill. |
| 1813 J. N. Brewer Beauties Eng. & Wales XII. ii. ii. 146 A woman..with..*mitten sleeves, a belt and cordon. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 22 Dec. 3/1 When a lace sleeve, instead of having actual mittens, is brought *mitten-wise over the hand. |
Hence
ˈmitten v.,
U.S.,
trans., to ‘give the mitten’ to.
| 1873 Carleton Farm Ball. 10 Once, when I was young as you, and not so smart, perhaps, For me she mittened a lawyer, and several other chaps. |