PINAFORE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pinafore mean? 

• PINAFORE (noun)
  The noun PINAFORE has 1 sense:

1. a sleeveless dress resembling an apron; worn over other clothing

  Familiarity information: PINAFORE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PINAFORE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sleeveless dress resembling an apron; worn over other clothing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

jumper; pinafore; pinny

Hypernyms ("pinafore" is a kind of...):

dress; frock (a one-piece garment for a woman; has skirt and bodice)

 Context examples 

Why, it seems only yesterday that I was buttoning Amy's pinafore, and pulling your hair when you teased.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Miss Jane, take off your pinafore; what are you doing there? Have you washed your hands and face this morning?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Gretel emptied her pinafore until pearls and precious stones ran about the room, and Hansel threw one handful after another out of his pocket to add to them.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

You won't have anything else here. and having delivered her defiance all on one breath, Meg cast away her pinafore and precipitately left the field to bemoan herself in her own room.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

These are far better than pebbles! said Hansel, and thrust into his pockets whatever could be got in, and Gretel said: I, too, will take something home with me, and filled her pinafore full.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

This ominous tool she presented to Miss Scatcherd with a respectful curtesy; then she quietly, and without being told, unloosed her pinafore, and the teacher instantly and sharply inflicted on her neck a dozen strokes with the bunch of twigs.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As Laurie spoke, he delivered a brown paper parcel to Meg, pulled Beth's hair ribbon, stared at Jo's big pinafore, and fell into an attitude of mock rapture before Amy, then shook hands all round, and everyone began to talk.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Ere I permitted myself to request an explanation, I tied the string of Adele's pinafore, which happened to be loose: having helped her also to another bun and refilled her mug with milk, I said, nonchalantly—Mr. Rochester is not likely to return soon, I suppose?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

An hour afterward her mother peeped in and there she was, scratching away, with her black pinafore on, and an absorbed expression, which caused Mrs. March to smile and slip away, well pleased with the success of her suggestion.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I was spared the trouble of answering, for Bessie seemed in too great a hurry to listen to explanations; she hauled me to the washstand, inflicted a merciless, but happily brief scrub on my face and hands with soap, water, and a coarse towel; disciplined my head with a bristly brush, denuded me of my pinafore, and then hurrying me to the top of the stairs, bid me go down directly, as I was wanted in the breakfast-room.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)