Emily Dickinson Lexicon

A'PRON, n. [Ir. aprun; a or ag, and Celtic bron, the breast.]

1. A cloth or piece of leather worn on the fore part of the body, to keep the clothes clean, or defend them from injury.
2. The fat skin covering the belly of a goose. – Johnson.
3. In gunnery, a flat piece of lead that covers the vent of a cannon.
4. In ships, a piece of carved timber, just above the foremost end of the keel. – Mar. Dict.
5. A platform, or flooring of plank, at the entrance of a dock, on which the dock-gates are shut. – Encyc.
6. A piece of leather or other thing to be spread before a person riding in a gig, chaise or sulky, to defend him from rain, snow or dust.