a garment covering part of the front of the body and tied at the waist, for protecting the wearer's clothing: a kitchen apron.
Anglican Church. a similar garment extending to the knees, worn by bishops, deans, and archdeans.
a metal plate or cover, usually vertical, for a machine, mechanism, artillery piece, etc., for protecting those who operate it.
a continuous conveyor belt for bulk materials, consisting of a chain of steel plates.
(in a lathe) a part of the carriage holding the clutches and gears moving the toolholder.
a paved or hard-packed area abutting an airfield's buildings and hangars, where planes are parked, loaded, or the like.
a broad paved area used for parking cars, as at the end of a driveway.
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.
the part of a stage floor in front of the curtain line.
Furniture. skirt (def. 6).
the outer border of a green of a golf course.
the part of the floor of a boxing ring that extends outside the ropes.
Also called skirt. a flat, broad piece of interior window trim immediately beneath the sill.
a strip of metal set into masonry and bent down to cover the upper edge of flashing; counterflashing.
the open part of a pier for loading and unloading vessels.
Nautical. (in a wooden vessel) a piece reinforcing the stem on the after side and leading down to the deadwood.
Geology. a deposit of gravel and sand at the base of a mountain or extending from the edges of a glacier.
the frill of long hairs on the throat and chest of certain long-haired dogs, as the collie.
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)
to put an apron on; furnish with an apron.
to surround in the manner of an apron: The inner city is aproned by low-cost housing.
Origin of apron
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,adjectiveun·a·proned,adjective
Words nearby apron
April Fools' Day, April showers bring May flowers, a priori, apriorism, aproctia, apron, apron piece, apron stage, apron strings, A prophet is not without honor save in his own country, apropos
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.