apron

 
Pronunciation: /ˈeɪpr(ə)n/

noun

  • 1a protective garment worn over the front of one’s clothes and tied at the back: a striped butcher’s apron [as modifier]: I reached into my apron pocket
  • a garment similar to an apron that is worn as part of official dress, as by a bishop or Freemason.
  • a sheet of lead worn to shield the body during an X-ray examination.
  • 2a small area adjacent to another larger area or structure: a tiny apron of garden
  • a hard-surfaced area on an airfield used for manoeuvring or parking aircraft: the pilot was instructed to park on the main apron
  • (also apron stage) a projecting strip of stage for playing scenes in front of the curtain.
  • US an area of asphalt where the drive of a house meets the road.
  • the narrow strip of a boxing ring lying outside the ropes.
  • 3 Geology an extensive outspread deposit of sediment, typically at the foot of a glacier or mountain.
  • 4 [often as modifier] an endless conveyor made of overlapping plates: apron feeders bring coarse ore to a grinding mill

Phrases

tied to someone's apron strings

too much under someone’s influence and control: we have all met sturdy adults who are tied to mother’s apron strings

Origin:

Middle English naperon, from Old French, diminutive of nape, nappe 'tablecloth', from Latin mappa 'napkin'. The n was lost by wrong division of a napron; compare with adder1