apron strings

phraseC2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

Apron strings stand for a parent's control that a grown child has not escaped. Tied to his mother's apron strings, cut the apron strings, still on the apron strings.

It is nearly always used of a son and his mother, and it is nearly always an insult. The picture is literal, since a child holding the strings of an apron cannot go far.

Definitions of apron strings

1phraseapron stringsA phrase for a parent's control that a grown child hasn't escaped from.C2
“At thirty he was still tied to his mother's apron strings.”

apron strings is a phrase.

Practised in Clothes & Fashion

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apron strings

phraseC2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

Apron strings stand for a parent's control that a grown child has not escaped. Tied to his mother's apron strings, cut the apron strings, still on the apron strings.

It is nearly always used of a son and his mother, and it is nearly always an insult. The picture is literal, since a child holding the strings of an apron cannot go far.

Definitions of apron strings

1phraseapron stringsA phrase for a parent's control that a grown child hasn't escaped from.C2
“At thirty he was still tied to his mother's apron strings.”

apron strings is a phrase.

Practised in Clothes & Fashion

Practise this word