noun

1. a garment of cloth, leather, etc. worn over the front part of the body, usually to protect one's clothes
2. anything like an apron in appearance or use; specif.,
   1. a covering or extending part for protecting or shielding a structure, machine, etc.
   2. a waterproof protecting shield in an open vehicle
   3. the hard-surfaced area, often paved, in front of or next to the terminal or hangars of an airport
   4. a broadened part of an automobile driveway, as where it joins the roadway
   5. the part of a proscenium stage in front of the arch
   6. an endless belt for carrying things
   7. a protective work of planking or other material along a river bank, below a dam, etc.

Etymology: by faulty separation of a napron < ME napron < OFr naperon < nape, a cloth < L mappa, napkin

transitive verb