mitt n.
1. (Aus./US) usu. in pl., a glove; often a boxing glove.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 252: mitts gloves. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | letter 13 Nov. in Splete Sel. Letters (1988) 16: He demands these articles and interests the Gov. to put on the ‘mitts’ with him [...] When he get [sic] old enough I’ll learn him to ‘box’. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 49: Mits, or Mittens, boxing gloves. | |
| Eve. Times (DC) 10 June 6/3: In these days of the big mitt and the scientific game, no catchers can be found to equal the backstop. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Apr. 2/2: Nelson and Hammond had to meet with the mits. | |
| Shorty McCabe 35: Oh, he can handle the mitts some, all right; none of your parlor Y. M. C. A. business. | |
| ‘Fat Fallon’ From First to Last (1954) 30: Devaney never laid a mitt on Fat. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | letter 25 Nov. 🌐 Please thank Ruth ever so much for her letter & parcel of mitts. | |
| Door of Dread 66: ‘Yuh wait until I grab me hat and mitts,’ she explained to him. | |
| Marvel 7 Aug. 18: Here’s Sam Atkins come all the way through the storm to have the mitts on with you. | |
| Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 2 Feb. 4/5: The mitt moguls of Melbourne have had to climb down. | |
| There Ain’t No Justice 140: In a couple of years we’ll see the old ref holding up your dexter mitt. | |
| Iceman Cometh Act II: I ain’t laid my mits on a box in Gawd knows when. | |
| Never Come Morning (1988) 10: Casey took a catcher’s mitt from under the mattress. | |
| Young Wolves 8: He put on his mitts, then his rubbers. | |
| (con. 1940s) Admiral (1968) 311: His baseball mitt was still there. | |
| Flesh and Blood (1978) 113: Gus came over and held up the catcher’s mitt. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 106: I rapped on the door without taking my mitt off. | |
| Rope Burns 4: He’d take me through the usual four 3-minute rounds on the punch mitts. |
2. (US) usu. in pl., the hand.
| Newspaper 118: She drew her feet together and with outstretched mits exclaimed, — ‘I am Cora Muggins!’. | |
| John Henry 10: I’m sitting on the sofa with one mit lying carelesly on the family album. | |
| Mop Fair 78: Extending the joyous mitt to her pals to join her in a cigarette. | |
| ‘The Hand-Shaking Peril’ Sporting Times 18 July 1/3: Upon her ungloved little ‘mit,’ / Evaline recognised what, without any doubt, / Was her ring, the identical ‘it’. | |
 | ‘Life on Broadway’ in McClures Mag. Aug. 197/1: ‘She said when she got through that thinkin’ of little Harry's school bills put a sting in her frail mitt’. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | ‘The Boarding House’ Dubliners (1956) 60: He was also handy with the mits and sang comic songs. | |
| Us Boys 23 Sept. [synd. cartoon strip] Hey Skinny, how’s ya mit. | |
| ‘Omaha Slim’ Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 110–11: A dime for a flop on de kip and a rub o’ de brush in de mornin’ — in me mitt. | |
| Adventures of a Boomer Op. 28: He reaches me his mit about the size of a California ham. | |
| Here’s Luck 178: ‘All pretty ’andy with their mitts. [...] Decent mob, they are’ . | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 183: Wishing like hell he had mightier lungs and stronger mitts. | |
| Marsh 233: All right, slap me ole mit, as they say in the donkey market. It’s a deal. | |
| Halo in Blood (1988) 58: Either you lay it in his mitt or your dad will be asked to pay off. | |
| Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 158: If I’m wrong, I’ll pay you myself. You got my mitt on it. | |
| in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/5: Other English incorporations [in Australian slang] include: [...] ‘mitts,’ hands. | |
| Tough Guy [ebook] A pair of mits on him like two bricks. | |
| Fings II i: I’m gonna use my wits / Instead of just my mitts. | |
| Pimp 58: I had led with my dick instead of my mitt. | |
| Carlito’s Way 132: He could rip the gates on store fronts [...] with his mitts. | |
| ‘Ashes to Ashes’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Just you keep yer mitts off that – right? | |
| How to Kiss a Crocodile 32: Whatever the reason for the condition of his mitts, he has the strongest grip in the world. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 125: Tyrone and Leroy have got that same perfume on their mitts. | |
| Guardian Guide 26 June–2 July 40: The opportunity to get their greasy mitts on a new motor. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Davey Darling 42: ‘Just hold your horses, will ya?’ [...] said the Old Man, planting his bloody big mitt on my shoulder. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 103: Guy they chopped his mitts off. | |
| Scrublands [ebook] [T]aking Martin’s hand in his own impressive mitt. |
3. (US) a hand of cards.
| Poker Stories 197: Do you suppose all those big ‘mitts’ dropped into you like angels from the skies? | |
| Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 73: ‘He's an awful pest in a poker game. He’ll give you an argument ’bout every mitt that’s played’. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 58: mitt [...] a card hand in any square game. | |
| Complete Guide to Gambling. |
4. (US prison) in pl., handcuffs.
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. |
5. (US tramp) usu. in pl, a tramp who has lost one or both hands.
| Mother of the Hoboes 43: The Rating Of The Tramps. 17 Mitts: train rider who lost one or both hands. | |
| Hobo 100: [From A No. 1, The Famous Tramp] 17. Mitts. Train rider who lost one or both hands. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 130: Mitts. – A one-handed or a handless person. |
6. (US Und.) a roll of money.
| in N.Y. Times 29 Aug. B2: A ‘mitt’ is a roll of money [HDAS]. |
In derivatives
(US Und.) armed.
| in Editor 24 Feb. 153: Go mitted or heeled – to go armed. | |
| Gay-cat 303: Go Mitted or Heeled — to go armed. | |
| et al. DAUL 139/1: Mitted. 1. (Rare) Armed with any weapon capable of being used with one hand, especially firearms, a knife, or a bludgeon. |
a handful.
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 24 Feb. 11/3: ‘Reggie waved a mit-ful of long green at the crowd’. |
In compounds
1. (US) a prizefighter.
| Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 10 July 11/2: Weller has easily defeated all the Canuck scrappers [...] and he has now come over the line was a chance at some of the yankee mitt artists. | |
| Shorty McCabe 88: Some of these mitt artists is nice, decent boys, but then again you’ll find others that you can’t take much pride in. | |
| Tacoma Times (WA) 31 Dec. 2/5: Butch Christian and Ed Morrell, said to be pretty clever mitt artists, will make it pretty interesting for four rounds. | |
| Garden Island (HI) 5 Dec. 1/3: Two boxing matches will be put on with two Filipino mitt artists. |
2. a ball-catcher.
| El Paso Herald (TX) 8 May n.p.: The Pirates seem pretty well fixed, though none of their big mitt artists is exceptionally brilliant. |
(US Und.) a fortune teller, a palm-reader.
| Phila. Eve. Bulletin 5 Oct. 40/4: Here are a few more terms and definitions from the ‘Racket’ vocabulary: [...] ’mitt broad,’ a female fortune teller. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Mit artist, a palmist. |
a palmist’s or fortune-teller’s establishment, tent etc.
| Minn. Jrnl (MN) 13 May 6/4: An announcement which will be a bombshell in the ‘big mitt’ camp was made thisd after noon [...] Edwards, the convicted member of the gang, would appear as a witness. | |
| Barker II i: Swell place for a mitt camp. | |
| Headless Lady (1987) 29: A mitt camp is the fortune-teller’s booth. | |
| Hey, Sucker 90: Mitt-camp (fortune telling booth) is of Gypsy origin. | |
| Dead Ringer 147: Flo and I were both mentalists with the same carney once, years ago. She ran the mitt camp. | |
| Man Who Was Not With It (1965) 4: She would smile and [...] take the tickets to Palmistry Pauline’s mittcamp. | |
| Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 44: He also ran a ‘mitt camp’ for reading palms. | |
| ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Mitt Camp — A fortune telling booth . |
(orig. US milit.) a toady, the image is of one who constantly shakes hands.
| Army and Navy Register (US) 18 Nov. 3/2: ‘Mitt-flopper,’ a hand-shaker. | |
| Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: a mitt flopper ... a yes man, caters to officers, salutes unnecessarily. |
boxing; prize-fighting.
| Hawaiian Star 25 Sept. 6/3: The mitt Game. Boxing is tabu. | |
| Day Book (Chicago) 7 Oct. 9/1: Denver fight promoters are going to [...] keep interest in the mitt game at fever heat in Colorado. | |
| Come Seven 99: He knew just enough about the mitt game to stave off Cleophus’ rushes for a round or two. | |
| Marvel 21 Aug. 15: A skilful exponent of the mitt-game. | |
| in Lords of the Ring (2005) 97: Boxing is spreading like wildfire and some of the strongest opponents to the sport have been won over and are ready to install the mitt game as an important part of the physical education program. |
(US, orig. milit.) an ingratiating person, a sycophant; thus mittglom n. and v.
| ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 29/2: MITT-GLOMMER. Handshaker, fin-flipper. | |
| ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 440: mitt glommer, n. A hand-shaker; a ‘yes-man.’. | |
| Und. and Prison Sl. 53: mitglom, v. To handshake, to play up to officials. mitglommer, n. A handshaker. | |
| et al. DAUL 139/1: Mitt-glom. A handshake, i.e., a cordial reception [...] Mitt-glommer. A hand-shaker; a ‘yes-man.’. |
1. (US) a crooked gambling establishment.
| implied in big mitt joint [above]. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 59: A ‘mitt joint’ is a gambling house where victims are ‘steered’ for fleecing by means of deceptively ‘sure thing’ hands. | |
| Und. Speaks. |
2. (also mit joint) a palmist’s or fortune-teller’s establishment, tent etc.
| ‘Carnival Sl.’ AS III:3 253/1: Mit Joint—Fortune teller’s tent. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 155: mitt joint A fortune teller’s establishment. | |
| et al. DAUL 139/1: Mitt-joint. (Carnival) A palm-reader’s booth or tent. | |
| in Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 22 Mar. 14/4: Pardon me, but I feel lucky today. I’ll just go over to see the beezock in the mitt-joint and get her to read my palm. | |
| Lowspeak. |
a prize-fighter, a boxer.
| Shorty McCabe 10: I’m a mitt juggler [...] and they call me Shorty McCabe. | |
| Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 18 Apr. 7/2: Elebnorn is a ‘corner’ and has the stuff in him to work up to the ‘scroll of fame’ in the boxing line with any mitt juggler. |
(US Und.) a confidence man, esp. when specializing in religious charlatanry.
| Pimp 163: He should be maybe a ‘Murphy’ player or even a ‘mitt man’. [Ibid.] 315: Mitt Man [...] a hustler who uses religion and prophecy to con his victims, usually the victims are women. |
(US black, also mitt) applause, clapping.
| Jackson Sun (TN) 25 Aug. 4/6: All model Harlemites and Gothamites will rally roun’ with mitt pounding. | |
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 10 Feb. 7/1: [C]hirper Avis Andrews [...] picked up with a fine mitt with each tin pan alley product. | |
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 10 Feb. 7/1: The cash customers brough callous mitts apounding in his favor. | |
| ‘Solid Meddlin’’ in People’s Voice (NY) 14 Mar. 33/1: The auditorium was doing the sardine act and the mitt pounding came up like thunder. | |
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
(US) a boxer.
| Deseret Eve. News (UT) 16 Oct. 3/3: Bibby Bishop’s Mexican ’mitt pusher’ is not so invincible after all. | |
| Bisbee Dly Review (AZ) 22 Aug. 3/2: Hart, the Kentucky heavyweight ‘mitt pusher,’ now looms up as a leading candidate for the championship. | |
| Wash. Herald 19 Nov. 10/1: The baltimore mitt pusher [...] flopped on the canvas and referee O’Connor counted him out. | |
| Ogden Standard-Examiner (UT) 15 Apr. 6/2: Finding the fistic game rather slow [he] decided to set out for Sydney, the Australian mecca for mitt pushers. |
(US) a fortune-teller, a palmist; thus mitt-reading.
| Eve. World (NY) 29 July 16/4: All the fake fortune tellers [...] from shut-eyes or clairvoyants to ‘mitt readers’ or palmists —are credulous and superstitious. | |
| ‘Lang. of the Lot’ AS III:5 June 414: Mitt reader – A palmist, or fortune teller. | |
| ‘Good Luck is No Good’ in Federal Agent Nov. 🌐 Never again would Shrimpo Todd have faith in luck, omens, hunches, mitt-readers, astrologists [...] or what have you. | |
| Hey, Sucker 90: The expressions ‘mitt-reading’ and ‘duke reading’ naturally came from calling one’s hands mitts and dukes. | |
| Show Biz from Vaude to Video 569: Mitt-reader – palmist. | |
| Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 94: ‘I found out that you’d taken over the mit-reading box. I thought all palmists were Gipsies’. | |
| I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 139: I was married ten years to a mitt reader on the carnie. |
(US) a boxer, a prizefighter.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 26 Mar. 17: [M]itt-slinger Jackie Murry [...] may fight in London. |
(US Und.) a form of confidence trick in which a supposedly legitimate business masquerades as a front for crooked poker games (ostensibly being played ‘just to pass the time’). The victim is ‘mitted’, i.e. dealt into such a game and fleeced of his money.
| Big Con 9: The mitt store masqueraded behind the front of a legitimate business. |
(US, orig. milit.) an ingratiating person, a sycophant.
| Capt. Boyd’s Battery 30 Nov. 24: Handshaker n. — See Lily Presser, Mitt Wobbler, Dog Robber. | |
| Amer. Legion Weekly 6 Apr. 11: Movie of the Amateur Mitt Wobbler and Hard Boiled Top [‘first sergeant’] mittwobbler: — handshaker. |
In phrases
(US Und.) a form of swindling involving the use of a stacked hand while playing poker.
| Omaha Daily Bee (NE) 12 May 7/5: Do you know anything about a game called the big mitt running here in Omaha? | |
| Minneapolis Jrnl 10 June 1/7: A ‘big mitt’ game means a confidence game [...] You know of the decoy or steerer of the card shop who can manipulate all the cards, work in a ‘cold deck’ and do other sharp tricks, and of the third or silent man who gets the big hands or ‘big mitts’ [...] and wins all the money. | |
| Day Book (Chicago) 11 Nov. 3/1: Hearst isn’t the kind of man who would get acquainted with a stranger and steer him up against a brace poker game, the big mitt, or a skin faro layout, and get part of the money for landing the sucker. | |
| Big Con 289: The big mitt. A short-con game played against a store with insidemen and ropers. The victim is enticed into the store, drawn into a crooked poker game, and is cold-decked on his own deal. |
a casino specializing in crooked card games, spec. poker.
| St Paul Dly Globe (MN) 4 Apr. 2/2: Johnson is one of the numerous ‘steerers’ for a ‘big mitt joint’. | |
| St Paul Daily Globe (MN) 12 Apr. 4/1: The town was full of ‘big mitt joints’ to which strangers were steered by runners. | |
| Minneapolis Jrnl (MN) 4 June 2/5: Chief, we have been investigating these big mitt joints [...] and the men who are running them. | |
| Eve. World (NY) 29 July 3/3: D.P. Geiser, alleged manager of a ‘big mitt’ joint [...] was fined $100. |
(US Und.) a confidence trickster.
| S.F. Call 5 July 6/5: Patrolman Zalusky [...] arrested Edwards, the ‘big mitt’ man. | |
| Eve. World (NY) 29 July 3/3: ‘Mitt’ Man Caught. D.P. Geiser, alleged manager of a ‘big mitt’ joint [...] was fined $100. | |
| Door of Dread 100: When yuh mosey round wi’ the big-mitters you gotta watch the deck or drop your pile! | |
| Und. Speaks 7/2: Big mit man, card cheater. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
to take risks.
| Observations of Orderly 227: There is a sardonic tang in the army’s condemnation of one who has been telling a far-fetched story: he has been ‘chancing his arm’ (or ‘mit’). | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Eve. Teleg. 12 Feb. 6/4: Your tailor will tell you that Tooley Street was ‘chancing its mitt’ by this boldness of address. | |
| DSUE (1984) 196/2: chance one’s mitt WW1. |
(US) constr. with the, a rejection, a snub; usu. in phr. get/give the chilly mitt.
| Eve. Times (DC) 24 Aug. 6/4: The Selee-Barnie combination [...] gave Ted the chilly mitt. | |
| Powers That Prey 143: Renshaw ’ll make some old Rube chief o’ police, an’ we’ll all get the chilly mitt. | |
| Eve. World (NY) 19 June 8/6: It is certainly too bad the way we hand the chilly mitt to those high grade Chinks. |
(US) a snub, a rejection.
| Keys to Crookdom 411: Cold mitt – cold welcome. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
(US) a rejection, an unfriendly reception.
| Checkers 117: Before long she’ll make a play at you – give her the frozen face. | |
| Rock is. Argus (IL) 11 Sept. 8/2: The democrats turned out last night out of sympathy, feeling that it would be real cruel to extend the icy mitt. | |
| Sunset mag. 280: Without a thought she chucked the Oro mine into the well [and] gave the frozen mitt to the steamship line. | |
| Bourbon News (Paris, KY) 4 Feb. 4/1: Having persistently given the icy mit [sic] to the Hon. James Corbett . | |
| More Fables in Sl. (1960) 176: Society gave him the Frozen Face. | |
| Daily Press (Newport News, VA) 17 Oct. 4/2: Our New Orleans friends would like to give Mr Yellow jack the ‘frozen mitt’. | |
| ‘Love’ in Philistine [periodical] 85: The only places where the ex-convicts get the icy mitt are pink teas and prayer meetings. | |
| Shorty McCabe 175: She’d got the frozen face ever since she came to town. | |
| Gentleman of Leisure Ch. xi: De old mug what showed me round give me de frozen face when I come in foist. | |
| Seattle Repub. (WA) 10 June 5/2: When the callow youth proposes [...] and gets the marble heart, the stony stare and the icy mit [sic], he is apt to swear never again. | |
| Common Law 282: ‘Got the frozen mitt, didn’t he?’ ‘And the Grand Cordon of the double cross.’. | |
| Day Book (Chicago) 2 June 30/1: The way Big Biz in Illinois is giving Windy Sherman the frozen face is a shame. | |
| Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I x: Who’ll he deal the icy mitt to next? | |
| ‘Jim’s Girl’ in Digger Smith 68: She’d turn ’im down – give ’im the bird, / An’ ’and ’im out the frozen word. | |
| (con. 1900s) Elmer Gantry 183: There’s a fellow we’ll get rid of. A man like me, he gives me the icy mitt. | |
| Law O’ The Lariat 143: So she give you the frozen mitt, eh? | |
| Sun. Post (Lanarks) 5 July 3/1: Service men on leave have a grouse. Too often they get the icy mitt from a local shopkeeper. | |
| Capt. Bulldog Drummond 172: ‘What devil is he doing here?’ ‘And why the frozen mitt?’. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 127: icy mitt Being turned down by your best girl. | |
| Jack London 61: After that Jack and his comrades were met with ‘the icy mitt,’ and were forced to go back to the regular Army. | |
| Assassination of Robert Maxwell (2003) 189: He told Rafi Eitan over lunch that day he believed that he had been ‘given the frozen mitt.’. |
1. to say goodbye.
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 78: I gave the cheerful grafter the parting mitt. |
2. (US) to reject, esp. in the context of a proposal of marriage.
| Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 16: give the frosty hand To be uncivil, or distant. | |
| A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 80: Fair alpine miss has just given the General the icy mitt. | |
| Types From City Streets 331: When ‘Chuck’ came in a little later the regulars gave him the frosty mit. | |
| Torchy 143: She starts to lay out Mr. Robert good, for givin’ the frosty paw to a relation. | |
| ‘A Word List From Montana’ in DN IV:iii 244: give (one) the icy mit, v. phr. To reject as a suitor. | |
| Leeds Mercury 8 Sept. 5/2: It was said, Wall Street financiers were giving the ‘icy mitt’ to movie makers. |
(US) anyone who has been bribed.
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Greased mits, public officials, underworld boss or politicians who have been bribed for protection. |
(US) to accept/solicit bribes; thus grease someone’s mitts, to bribe.
| ‘The Disappearance of Mrs. Mulreany’ in Weekly Freeman 16 Nov. (1970) 77: It has sthruck me that Sylvester havin’ a share o’ money, might have graizhed your paw for you. | |
| & al. Color & Human Nature 179: The average Negro political leader has one thing on his mind, that is to grease his mitt and to hell with the underdog. | |
| Pimp 168: Every copper in the district [...] greases his mitts in that lard bucket. |
(US) to reject, to turn down, to dismiss.
| Conversations of a Chorus Girl 30: I [...] handed him out the warm mitt. | |
| Our Mr Wrenn (1936) 27: Oh, yes, I’m sure you didn’t intend to hand me the icy mitt. | |
| Dly Ardmoreite (Ardmore, OK) 7 Sept. 4/6: When fate hands you the icy mitt / And the same seems gone to pot / You’ve got to worry. | |
| Black Gang 361: I got handed the frozen mitten. | |
| Inimitable Jeeves 20: She’s handed you the mitten. |
(US) punching, boxing.
| Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 26 Aug. 6/6: [advert] There are going to be some rattling good fights [...] Lots of mitt-slinging. |
(US Und.) to pick pockets.
| (con. c.1865) Autobiog. of a Thief 63: Jack [...] gave his patron a lesson in the art of throwing the mitt (dipping). | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |