 Assorted gloves (a museum collection) | |
| Type | hand's protection |
|---|---|
A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb.[1] Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a guard for what a bare hand should not touch.
Gloves are made of materials including cloth, knitted or felted wool, leather, rubber, latex, neoprene, silk, and (in mail) metal. Gloves of kevlar protect the wearer from cuts. Gloves and gauntlets are integral components of pressure suits and spacesuits.
Latex, nitrile rubber or vinyl disposable gloves are often worn by health care professionals as hygiene and contamination protection measures. Police officers often wear them to work in crime scenes to prevent destroying evidence in the scene. Many criminals wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, which makes the crime investigation more difficult. However, the gloves themselves can leave prints that are just as unique as human fingerprints.[2][3]
If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves. Fingerless gloves are useful where dexterity is required that gloves would restrict. Cigarette smokers and church organists sometimes use fingerless gloves. Cycling gloves for road racing or touring are usually fingerless. Guitar players may also use fingerless gloves in circumstances where it is too cold to play with an uncovered hand.
A hybrid of glove and mitten contains open-ended sheaths for the four fingers (as in a fingerless glove, but not the thumb) and an additional compartment encapsulating the four fingers. This compartment can be lifted off the fingers and folded back to allow the individual fingers ease of movement and access while the hand remains covered. The usual design is for the mitten cavity to be stitched onto the back of the fingerless glove only, allowing it to be flipped over (normally held back by Velcro or a button) to transform the garment from a mitten to a glove. These hybrids are called convertible mittens or "glittens".
- ^ Picken, Mary (2013). A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern. Dover Publications. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-486-14160-2.
- ^ Sawer, Patrick (Dec 13, 2008). "Police use glove prints to catch criminals". Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved Jul 18, 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ James W.H. McCord and Sandra L. McCord, Criminal Law and Procedure for the paralegal: a systems approach, supra, p. 127.