apron strings

plural noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of apron strings¹

First recorded in 1535–45

Idioms and Phrases

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.

More idioms and phrases containing apron strings

see tied to someone's apron strings .

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

A large woman, barely done tying her apron strings, goes running to the cabin John and Ann Laydon share with two other families.

From Literature

I do not come from women whose apron strings were tied to the kitchen.

From New York Times

This cutting of the apron strings sometimes comes early: Certain seal moms spend as little as three days nursing their pups before ducking beneath the chilly ocean waves, never to return.

From New York Times

Those proverbial apron strings prove hard to untangle in the new reality series “I Love a Mama’s Boy.”

From Los Angeles Times