What does it Mean to ‘Handle with Kid Gloves’?

Gloves provide softness and tenderness to the hands, so we have idioms for both the scenarios — for doing something wearing gloves and for doing something without wearing gloves.

If you handle someone wearing gloves, it means that you are handling them softly and gently. On the other hand, if you deal with someone without wearing gloves, you are harsh and rough with them.

To handle someone with kid gloves means —

• to handle them with great care and sensitivity;
• to deal with someone very gently;
• to be sensitive to the feelings of others.

The kid gloves are soft leather gloves, made from the tender skin of a young goat (which is called a kid). They are a piece of elegant finery used in situations where a delicate treatment is required such as handling precious jewelry items, so as not to scratch them or scrape them unintentionally.

Let’s see an example —

“You must handle him with kid gloves — he has become extremely sensitive after his child’s death”.

It means that you need to talk to him very gently and lovingly because he has become too sensitive after his child’s death.

We will discuss two more idioms in this article.

Number one is “Handle without gloves”. To handle without gloves means to deal with something harshly or in a rough manner.

The second idiom is — “Gloves are off”. It means —

• to be ruthless and uncompromising;
• to not care if someone gets hurt;
• to disregard the feelings of others.

This phrase comes from the sport of boxing where competitors fistfight wearing padded gloves; removing gloves during a fight could result in serious physical injury.

Thus, if the gloves are off, that means competitors are being ruthless with each other; they don’t care if their opponent gets injured.

I hope you found this story interesting. If you did, buy my full course on Udemy or watch it for free on Skillshare by signing up here. This course covers nearly 380 idioms with their origins and backstories.

Hi, I am Gauri Shanker, a Vocab teacher and enthusiast. I teach vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. You can check out my courses here.