apron

[ ey-pruhn ]
See synonyms for apron on Thesaurus.com
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.

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

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

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

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

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

  6. Civil Engineering.

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

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

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

  8. Furniture. skirt (def. 6).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  17. 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)
  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.

Origin of apron

1
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

Other words from apron

  • a·pron·like, adjective
  • un·a·proned, adjective

Words Nearby apron

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use apron in a sentence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  9. another name for skirt (def. 3)

  10. tied to someone's apron strings dependent on or dominated by someone, esp a mother or wife

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

Origin of apron

1
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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for apron

apron

[ āprən ]


  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.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.