Glove
A hand covering worn for protection, grip or catching, taking very different forms across boxing, goalkeeping, baseball, cricket and cycling.
Definition
A glove is a hand covering used in sport for protection, improved grip or catching the ball, and its design is highly sport-specific. A boxing glove is a heavily padded mitt, a goalkeeper's glove combines a grippy palm with finger protection, and a baseball glove is a large leather mitt shaped to catch and hold the ball.
Other sports use gloves in their own way: cricket batters and wicketkeepers wear padded gloves, cyclists wear fingerless mitts for grip and comfort, and golfers wear a thin glove to steady the grip. In each case the glove is matched to the demands of the sport rather than being a single universal item.
Meaning by sport
This term is used differently across sports:
- Boxing
- A heavily padded mitt worn to cushion both the wearer's hand and the opponent on impact.
- Football
- A goalkeeper's glove with a grippy palm and finger protection for catching and punching the ball.
- Baseball
- A large leather glove or mitt shaped to catch and secure the ball when fielding.
- Cricket
- Padded gloves protecting the hands of the batter and wicketkeeper.
Where you’ll hear “glove”
Sports that use this term:
Football
The world’s most popular team sport — endless running, teamwork and community in one game.
Baseball
A bat-and-ball team sport where two sides alternate between batting and fielding to score runs.
Cycling
A low-impact endurance sport that doubles as transport, exercise and adventure.
Boxing
A striking combat sport built on footwork, timing and conditioning, practised from fitness drills to controlled sparring.
Cricket
A bat-and-ball team sport where sides take turns to bat and to bowl and field, scoring runs.
Golf
A precision target sport played across an outdoor course, blending skill, strategy and a long walk in the open air.
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Equipment
- Golf gloveA thin leather or synthetic glove worn on the lead hand to steady the grip.
- Boxing glovesPadded gloves worn to cover the hands when punching in boxing and striking sports.
- Bike helmetA hard-shelled head covering worn while cycling, built to absorb a single significant impact and be replaced afterwards.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Term
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-09-01
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