apron

[ey-pruh n] /ˈeɪ prən/
noun
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 (def 6).
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.
verb (used with object)
20.
to put an apron on; furnish with an apron.
21.
to surround in the manner of an apron:
The inner city is aproned by low-cost housing.
Origin
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
Related forms
apronlike, adjective
unaproned, adjective
Examples from the web for apron
  • Align apron with receiving stream and keep straight throughout its length.
  • Our waiter fit the stereotype-handlebar moustache, long white apron wrapped around a portly waist-and apparently so did we.
  • He's come up the hill in his white apron to get a mill rat.
  • And there she was, wiping her hands on her homemade apron, come to the doorway to meet us.
  • Sensing disaster, scores of spectators began surging over the fence that separated the track apron from the homestretch.
  • Being able to hide behind the apron strings of anonymity allows quite a few crazies to post here using university accounts.
  • At low tide, it is surrounded by a broad, flat apron of coral where a plane could safely touch down.
  • The car whirls around in a plume of smoke, the other cars dodge it, and the driver brings it harmlessly to a stop on the apron.
  • The old lady, with her apron on, with trembling hand set the table.
  • She has a nearly clean apron, and the shoddy coat has been tidied a little.
British Dictionary definitions for apron

apron

/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 (sense 3)
12.
tied to someone's apron strings, dependent on or dominated by someone, esp a mother or wife
verb
13.
(transitive) to protect or provide with an apron
Word Origin
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
Word Origin and History for apron
n.

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]

apron in Science
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.
apron in the Bible

found in the Authorized Version in Gen. 3:7, of the bands of fig-leaves made by our first parents. In Acts 19:12, it denotes the belt or half-girdle worn by artisans and servants round the waist for the purpose of preserving the clothing from injury. In marg. of Authorized Version, Ruth 3:15, correctly rendered instead of "vail." (R.V., "mantle.")