gloveful

plural glovefuls · plural glovesful

1. As much as a glove can hold.

   She could stand on a rocky surface, scoop up a gloveful of dirt, and explore extinct volcanoes and ancient canyons.

   5 more examples

   [Abe] Roth stepped between the boys, the fans thinking he was going to stop the slaughter. He didn’t and [Nick] Peters threw in 15 glovesful that dropped [Orville] Drouillard for nine.

   1938 February 26, Ken Frogley, “Peters TKOs Drouillard In 6th Round”, in Daily News, volume 15, number 153, Los Angeles, Calif., page 15

   On a clouting keynote the bout sprung underway, each man ripping across gloves[-]ful of punishment in neutral corners.

   1942 February 8, “Bout-by-Bout With Glovers”, in The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla., pages four—B

   But against Louis or any other first flight heavyweight? Not with two glovesful of cast iron shamrocks.

   1947 April 1, W. Vernon Tietjen, “Fitzpatrick Hands Jim Richie First Defeat In 16 Bouts: St. Louisan Is Down For Nine In 9th Round”, in St. Louis Star-Times, volume 61, number 154, St. Louis, Mo., page 22

   [Klaus] Weisman picked up two glovesful of snow and whirled it into the air.

   1980 February 15, Hubert Mizell, “Unknown Austrian skier Stock suddenly is hero”, in St. Petersburg Times, volume 96, number 206, St. Petersburg, Fla., page 1c

   Hundreds of earwigs and silverfish and slate-gray potato bugs scrambled in the glovesful of dirt I lifted from the pile and then sorted over a mayonnaise jar behind the back porch.

   1990 July 1, Ethan Canin, “The Scientific Method”, in Los Angeles Times Magazine, page 10