■ noun
1》 a protective garment covering the front of one's clothes and tied at the back.
2》 a small area adjacent to another larger area or structure.
↘an area on an airfield used for manoeuvring or parking aircraft.
↘(also ~ stage ) a strip of stage that projects in front of the curtain.
3》 an endless conveyor made of overlapping plates.
Phrases
tied to someone's ~ strings under someone's influence and control to an excessive degree.
Derivatives
~ed adjective
Origin
ME naperon , from OFr., dimin. of nape , nappe 'tablecloth', from L. mappa 'napkin'; the n was lost by wrong division of a n~ .