subs. (common).—1. A hand. For synonyms, see BUNCH OF FIVES.—GROSE (1823).
1819. J. H. VAUX, Memoirs, s.v.
2. (pugilistic).—A boxing glove; a MUFFLER (q.v.). Also MITTS.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
1887. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 2 Dec., 359/2. I’ll get him to put the MITTENS on vid your friend, and have three rounds.
1888. GREENWOOD, At Flyfaker’s Hotel, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 56. ‘You see them two there,’ said he, lowering his voice, sitting on t’other end of the table and eating fried fish and bread. ‘That’s their MITTENS they’ve got tied up in that hankercher. They’re fighting coves.
Verb. (common).—To jilt.
Also TO GIVE THE MITTEN. In Devonshire TO GIVE ONE TURNIPS.
1838. J. C. NEAL, Charcoal Sketches [BARTLETT]. Young gentlemen that have GOT THE MITTEN, or young gentlemen who think they are going to GET THE MITTEN, always sigh. It makes them feel bad.
1848. J. R. LOWELL, A Fable for Critics, p. 43.
| Here comes Dana, abstractedly loitering along, | |
| Involved in a paulo-post-future of song, | |
| Who’ll be going to write what’ll never be written | |
| Till the Muse, ere he thinks of it, GIVES HIM THE MITTEN. |
1855. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), Nature and Human Nature, p. 90. There is a young lady I have set my heart on; though whether she is a-goin’ to give me hern, or GIVE ME THE MITTEN, I ain’t quite satisfied.
1868. O. W. HOLMES, The Guardian Angel, ch. xxxiii. p. 264 (Rose Lib.). 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.
1871. DE VERE, Americanisms, s.v. More ungracefully still, an unfortunate lover, who is simply ‘jilted’ at the North, is more violently ‘kicked’ at the South—a phrase marking most characteristically the contrast between the free and easy manners of our day with those of past days, when the strongest term used for the painful occasion was TO GIVE and TO GET THE MITTEN. The latter word ought, however, always to be MITTENS, as the phrase is derived from the same use made of the French mitaines, which had to be accepted by the unsuccessful lover instead of the hand, after which he aspired.
1873. CARLETON, Farm Ballads, 19.
| Once, when I was young as you, and not so smart, perhaps, | |
| For me she MITTENED a lawyer, and several other chaps. |
1884. Punch, 1 March, p. 108, col. 2.
| Lifeboat hands who are found shrinking, | |
| Or with fear of danger smitten, | |
| GET, not medals, but THE MITTEN. |
1887. Lippincott’s Magazine, Aug., p. 241. Ah, I see. Popped the question, and GOT THE MITTEN. Oh, well you musn’t let that discourage you.
1888. Notes and Queries, 7 S. vi. 126. TO GET THE MITTEN.… Without doubt the Latin mitto, to send (about your business), to dismiss, is the fons et origo of the word.
1890. E. BELLAMY, Dr. Heidenhoff’s Process, p. 42. ‘After all,’ she said, suddenly, ‘that would be taking a good deal of trouble to GET A MITTEN. If you are so anxious for it, I will give it to you now;’ and she held out the glove to him with an inscrutable face.
TO HANDLE WITHOUT MITTENS, verb. phr. (common).—See quot.
1755. JOHNSON, A Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. MITTENS. TO HANDLE WITHOUT MITTENS. To handle roughly. A low phrase.
EASY AS MITTENS, phr. (common).—Free.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22, The ladies was EASY AS MITTENS.
