English Explanatory Dictionary

apron

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An article of clothing worn over the front of the torso and/or legs for protection from spills; also historically worn by Freemasons and as part of women's fashion.
  2. The short cassock ordinarily worn by English bishops.
  3. A hard surface bordering a structure or area.
  4. The paved area of an airport, especially the area where aircraft park away from a terminal.
  5. The spreading end of a driveway.
  6. The paved area below the yellow line on a racetrack.
  7. The loading, parking or roadway area immediately beside a railway station or marine terminal.
  8. The portion of a stage extending towards the audience beyond the proscenium arch in a theatre.
  9. A large decal toward the bottom of a pinball table.
  10. A raised panel below a window or wall monument or tablet.
  11. The sides of a tree's canopy.
  12. The cap of a cannon; a piece of lead laid over the vent to keep the priming dry.
verb
  1. To cover with, or as if with, an apron.

Pronunciation

/ˈeɪ.pɹən/ en-us-apron.ogg /ˈeɪ.pəɹn/

Word forms

apron aprons napron aproning aproned

Etymology

Rebracketing of napron (a napron → an apron), from Middle English naperoun, napron, apron, from Old French napperon, diminutive of nappe (“tablecloth”), from Latin mappa (“napkin”). For other similar cases of rebracketing, see adder, daffodil, newt, nickname, orange, trickle, umpire.

Derived words

apron dance aproned aproneer apron flashing apronful apronless apronlike apron sink apron skirt apron string balloon apron beaproned butcher's apron green apron Hottentot apron khoikhoi apron naked apron unaproned
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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