apron strings

American  

plural noun

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

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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.

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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

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

From Slate • Dec. 2, 2019

He tells me the scarification symbolises the purging of their mothers' blood and the gaining of their own adult blood - in a somewhat excruciating metaphorical severing of the apron strings.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2018

If you’re trying to cut the apron strings, why work with your mother?

From Washington Post • Aug. 31, 2017

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