apron string

See also: apron-string

English

apron string (plural apron strings)

One of the pair of strings or narrow sewn cloth strips used to fasten an apron around the wearer's waist.
(idiomatic, usually in the plural) A symbol of the domestic ties binding a male to a female (as a husband to a wife or a son to a mother).
tied to someone's apron strings
- 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC:
  [T]he opinion of the country was that my lord was tied to his wife's apron-strings, and that she ruled over him.
- 1901 [1878], chapter 11, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina‎^[1], part 6, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy:
  Yes, Stiva may be right, I'm not manly with her, I'm tied to her apron-strings… Well, it can't be helped!
- 1914, Thornton W. Burgess, chapter 1, in The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat:
  "Pooh!" said Jerry, throwing out his chest, "I guess I can take care of myself without being tied to my mother's apron strings!"