apron

American  

[ay-pruhn] / ˈeɪ prən /

noun

• aprons
  plural

1. a garment covering part of the front of the body and tied at the waist, for protecting the wearer's clothing.

   a kitchen apron.

2. Anglican Church. a similar garment extending to the knees, worn by bishops, deans, and archdeans.

3. a metal plate or cover, usually vertical, for a machine, mechanism, artillery piece, etc., for protecting those who operate it.

4. a continuous conveyor belt for bulk materials, consisting of a chain of steel plates.

5. (in a lathe) a part of the carriage holding the clutches and gears moving the toolholder.

6. a paved or hard-packed area abutting an airfield's buildings and hangars, where planes are parked, loaded, or the like.

7. a broad paved area used for parking cars, as at the end of a driveway.

8. Civil Engineering.

   1. any device for protecting a surface of earth, as a riverbank, from the action of moving water.

   2. a platform to receive the water falling over a dam.

9. the part of a stage floor in front of the curtain line.

10. Furniture. skirt.

11. the outer border of a green of a golf course.

12. the part of the floor of a boxing ring that extends outside the ropes.

13. Also called skirt. a flat, broad piece of interior window trim immediately beneath the sill.

14. a strip of metal set into masonry and bent down to cover the upper edge of flashing; counterflashing.

15. the open part of a pier for loading and unloading vessels.

16. Nautical. (in a wooden vessel) a piece reinforcing the stem on the after side and leading down to the deadwood.

17. Geology. a deposit of gravel and sand at the base of a mountain or extending from the edges of a glacier.

18. the frill of long hairs on the throat and chest of certain long-haired dogs, as the collie.

19. a structure erected around another structure, as for reinforcement or decoration.

    a high fence surrounded by a wire apron buried in the ground.

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verb (used with object)

1. to put an apron on; furnish with an apron.

2. to surround in the manner of an apron.

   The inner city is aproned by low-cost housing.

apron British  

/ ˈeɪprən /

noun

1. a protective or sometimes decorative or ceremonial garment worn over the front of the body and tied around the waist

2. the part of a stage extending in front of the curtain line; forestage

3. a hard-surfaced area in front of or around an aircraft hangar, terminal building, etc, upon which aircraft can stand

4. a continuous conveyor belt composed usually of slats linked together

5. a protective plate screening the operator of a machine, artillery piece, etc

6. a ground covering of concrete or other material used to protect the underlying earth from water erosion

7. a panel or board between a window and a skirting in a room

8. geology a sheet of sand, gravel, etc, deposited at the front of a moraine

9. golf the part of the fairway leading onto the green

10. machinery the housing for the lead screw gears of a lathe

11. another name for skirt

12. dependent on or dominated by someone, esp a mother or wife

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verb

1. (tr) to protect or provide with an apron

apron Scientific  

/ ā′prən /

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• apronlike
  adjective
• unaproned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• aprons
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of apron

1275–1325; 1925–30 apron for def. 6; 1900–05 apron 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

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Explanation

An apron is something you wear over your clothes to protect them from the mess you make while you're cooking. Some aprons tie around your waist, while others cover your entire torso. Bakers, chefs, and butchers often wear aprons to keep their clothing clean. It was once common for maids, waitresses, and women cooking at home to wear aprons, while today both men and women wear them. You can also use the word apron to describe the area where a plane is stored or refueled, or the part of a theater stage in front of the curtain. The Old French root is naperon, "small table cloth."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

apron aprons

At one booth, visitors pointed their phones at a humanoid wearing an apron as it gingerly reached for a toy chicken drumstick before clamping down and lifting the fake meat into a bucket.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

"It is not little kitchens and pots boiling away, mimsy little things being placed on plates. He is cooking with fire... he stands there in his leather apron and it's roaring like fireworks," Coren said.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

So I figured, you know what, why not buy an apron and a little black crop top, and rep L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

It’s like walking down to the kitchen and finding the cat in an apron flipping pancakes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

She’s a short, squat woman with neat hair and an apron that looks like it has beet stains.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

There’s a team of uniformed servers with white shirts and gray aprons, though they don’t take orders directly; table service isn’t allowed under the current zoning restrictions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

They wear matching “The Real Food Show” aprons.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

On Wednesday, nurses with plastic aprons and face masks manned 15 tables in a sports hall at the University of Kent to begin immunisations, in scenes reminiscent of the Covid-19 pandemic.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

As the sun went down and a phone notification warned of more rain, the women, donning elf aprons and Santa hats, scrambled to move the boxes under cover.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025

Both were bare-chested, and wore fish-skin aprons over their leggings.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

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