Definition of: apron

(ā′prən, ā′pərn) noun
1. A covering to protect or adorn the front of a person's clothes, or any similar covering.
2. A part of the dress of a bishop or of the regalia of Masonic orders or other societies.
3. Mech. a Any of various overlapping pieces protecting parts of machines, b An endless band, as of cloth or leather, usually inclined, for conducting loose moving material, as grain in a separator.
4. Eng. a The platform or sill at the entrance to a dock. b The platform below a dam or in a sluiceway, or hinged to the river side of a fishing float.
5. Geol. A sheet of sand or gravel lying for some distance in front of the terminal moraines of a glacier.
6. Aeron. A hard-surfaced area in front of and around a hangar or aircraft shelter, to facilitate the handling of aircraft.
7. The part of a theater stage in front of the curtain.
8. Mil. a A movable screen of camouflage material, used to conceal artillery, b A network of barbed wire surrounding a post or stake in an entanglement.
9. A band of leather composing that part of an Oxford shoe which extends from the shank up and over the instep.
—v.t To cover or furnish with or as with an apron. [< OF naperon, dim. of nape cloth < L mappa cloth, napkin; in ME a napron became an apron]
—a′pron·like′ adjective