apron: [14] As in the case of adder, umpire, and many others, apron arose from a mistaken analysis of the combination ‘indefinite article + noun’. The original Middle English word was napron, but as early as the 15th century a napron had turned into an apron. Napron itself had been borrowed from Old French naperon, a derivative of nape ‘cloth’ (source of English napery and napkin); and nape came from Latin mappa ‘napkin, towel’ (source of English map). => map, mat, napkin
apron (n.)
mid-15c., faulty separation (as also in adder, umpire) of a napron (c. 1300), from Old French naperon "small table-cloth," diminutive of nappe "cloth," from Latin mappa "napkin." Napron was still in use as recently as late 16c. The shift of Latin -m- to -n- was a tendency in Old French (conter from computare, printemps from primum, natte "mat, matting," from matta). Symbolic of "wife's business" from 1610s. Apron-string tenure was in reference to property held in virtue of one's wife, or during her lifetime only.
Even at his age, he ought not to be always tied to his mother's apron string. [Anne Brontë, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," 1848]
双语例句
1. He was wearing, astonishingly, a frilly pink apron over shirt and trousers.
他穿得很奇怪,衬衫和裤子外面套着件镶褶边的粉红围裙。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The cook's apron covered her middle.
厨用围裙裹着她的腰部。
来自柯林斯例句
3. She wiped her floury hands on her apron.
她在围裙上擦了擦沾满面粉的双手。
来自柯林斯例句
4. We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.
招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. She accidentally splashed oil over her apron while cooking lunch.