apron
[ ey-pruh n ]
/ ˈeɪ prən /
noun
verb (used with object)
to put an apron on; furnish with an apron.
to surround in the manner of an apron: The inner city is aproned by low-cost housing.
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Nearby words
- april fool,
- april fools' day,
- april showers bring may flowers,
- apriorism,
- aproctia,
- apron piece,
- apron stage,
- apron strings,
- apropos,
- apropos of
Origin of apron
1275–1325; 1925–30 for def 6; 1900–05 for def 8; Middle English napron (by later misconstruing a napron as an apron) < Middle French naperon, equivalent to nape tablecloth (< Latin mappa napkin; cf. map) + -ron diminutive suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for apron
apron
/ (ˈeɪprən) /
noun
verb
(tr) to protect or provide with an apron
Word Origin for apron
C16: mistaken division (as if an apron) of earlier a napron, from Old French naperon a little cloth, from nape cloth, from Latin mappa napkin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
apron
mid-15c., faulty separation (cf. adder, umpire) of a napron (c.1300), from Old French naperon "small table-cloth," diminutive of nappe "cloth," from Latin mappa "napkin." Napron was still in use as recently as late 16c. The shift of Latin -m- to -n- was a tendency in Old French (e.g. conter from computare, printemps from primum, natte "mat, matting," from matta). Symbolic of "wife's business" from 1610s. Apron-string tenure was in reference to property held in virtue of one's wife, or during her lifetime only.
Even at his age, he ought not to be always tied to his mother's apron string. [Anne Brontë, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," 1848]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
apron
[ ā′prən ]
An area covered by a blanketlike deposit of glacial, eolian, marine, or alluvial sediments, especially an area at the foot of a mountain or in front of a glacier.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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