apron strings

American  

plural noun

1. the strings on an apron, used for securing it around one's person.

---

idioms

1. tie to someone's apron strings, to make or be dependent on or dominated by someone.

   He has never married because he's tied to his mother's apron strings.

apron strings More Idioms  

1. see tied to someone's apron strings.

---

Etymology

Origin of apron strings

First recorded in 1535–45

Example Sentences

Men who couldn’t, or worse, didn’t want to, were portrayed as marionettes tied to and practically strangled by their mothers’ apron strings.

From New York Times • Feb. 27, 2024

Brunger, Cleary and Kavanaugh created a musical during the pandemic that sought to ride the apron strings of a beloved baking competition with global reach.

From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2023

How do I manage my mother’s anxieties while disentangling myself from her apron strings?

From Slate • Dec. 2, 2019

And while many still refer to it fondly as the Liverpool Daily Post, the newspaper has long cut the apron strings that tethered it to the Merseyside parent.

From BBC • Sep. 23, 2013

This time as she came away, she absently untied and re-tied her apron strings, taking up what little slack her enormous waistline allowed.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger