pinafore
Americannoun
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a child's apron, usually large enough to cover the dress and sometimes trimmed with flounces.
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a woman's sleeveless garment derived from it, low-necked, tying or buttoning in the back, and worn as an apron or as a dress, usually over a blouse, a sweater, or another dress.
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Chiefly British.
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a large apron worn by adults.
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a sleeveless smock.
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noun
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an apron, esp one with a bib
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short for pinafore dress
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an overdress buttoning at the back
Etymology
Origin of pinafore
Explanation
A little girl in a British novel might wear a pinafore — a white, apron-like garment worn over a dress — but you probably won't see pinafores on the runways. The word pinafore, designating a sleeveless child's dress worn over other clothing, has moved on from its original meaning, which can still be seen lurking in the word itself. It was originally a protective apron "pinned afore," or over, one's clothes. These days, a pinafore is primarily worn by a young girl, and in Britain it's called a pinny for short.
Vocabulary lists containing pinafore
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It's of a brown bear with big claws and a blonde woman in a green pinafore dress beside it.
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
“I love the scale of the check. I thought it harked back to the original pinafore she wore in the first ‘Beetlejuice,’” says Atwood.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2024
Later, sequined pinafore dresses were paired with knee-high boots and tops featured long pockets hanging like scarves.
From Reuters • Mar. 7, 2022
Soon Hedda discovers a mysterious message written under the pinafore of an eyeless Raggedy Ann doll by her younger self, which leads her to the Dark Web and a game called the Glare.
From New York Times • Sep. 19, 2020
My hair is damp against my neck, the pinafore stiff and uncomfortable.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
