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a·pron

(āprən)

1. A garment, usually fastened in the back, worn over all or part of the front of the body to protect clothing.

2. Something that resembles this garment in appearance or function, especially:

a. A protective shield for a machine.

b. The paved strip in front of and around airport hangars and terminal buildings.

c. The part of a stage in a theater extending in front of the curtain.

d. A platform, as of planking, at the entrance to a dock.

e. An upper rail or carved panel extending between the legs of a piece of furniture, as beneath a tabletop or chair seat.

f. A piece of horizontal trim mounted beneath an interior windowsill.

g. A covering or structure along a shoreline for protection against erosion or a platform serving a similar purpose below a dam or in a sluiceway.

h. An area covered by sand and gravel deposited at the front of a glacial moraine.

i. A continuous conveyor belt.

j. A border of slightly longer grass that surrounds a green on a golf course.

k. The part of a boxing ring floor that extends beyond the ropes.

tr.v. a·proned, a·pron·ing, a·prons

To cover, protect, or provide with an apron.

[Middle English, from an apron, alteration of a napron, from Old French naperon, diminutive of nape, tablecloth, from Latin mappa, napkin; see MAP.]

(click for a larger image)

apron

late 17th-century to early 18th-century Chinese lacquered table

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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