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Glite Dictionary
kid glove

kid glove

1 7.2
A glove made of very soft leather from young goats
  • noun
  • /kɪd ɡlʌv/
translation icon : guante de piel de cabrito
  • When she was out of earshot, her ladyship began to peel the snowy kid gloves from her hands.
  • white kid gloves
  • black kid gloves
  • wear kid gloves

Examples

  • Cold would be the biggest problem and, eyeing the black kid gloves I had in my lap, he advised mittens, an item I hadn't worn in more than twenty years and had no intention of wearing once again.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • She drew off her kid gloves, smoothed them, and laid them on the table beside her.

  • A pair of white kid gloves and a fan.

    Alice in Wonderland (1999)

  • Then she began to take off her apple-green kid gloves.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Pulling on a pair of snow-white kid gloves, thin as new skin, he counts his fingers: all there.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Sheaths of paper, stashed there with a pair of white kid gloves, flutter about.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Clemenceau was a seasoned cynic; he loathed and distrusted the Germans; he wore gray kid gloves at the negotiating table.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Within a matter of minutes, Allegra had disappeared into a dressing room, the shopkeeper trotting behind holding a gown, shoes, hose, cape, and elbow-length kid gloves.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • When she was out of earshot, her ladyship began to peel the snowy kid gloves from her hands.

  • Naturally, everyone wore white kid gloves at the elegant event.

Synonyms

glove
vskid glove
880 1.0

A cover for the hand that keeps it warm or protects it

is a specific fine leather hand covering not any ordinary protective one
suede glove
vskid glove
1 4.1

A glove made from soft leather with a fuzzy surface

is made from very fine smooth young goat leather rather than napped leather

How Soft

kid glove
1 7.2

Surface Forms

kid glove singular
kid gloves plural

Morphology

kid + glove

The meaning 'a glove made from fine young-goat leather' is directly compositional from 'kid' (soft leather from a young goat) + 'glove' (hand covering). This follows a straightforward noun–noun compound pattern common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Kid glove comes from real gloves made from the very soft leather of a 'young goat' called a kid. Because those gloves were so gentle, to treat someone with kid gloves came to mean 'to treat someone very carefully'.