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pinafore

 
Dictionary: pin·a·fore   (pĭn'ə-fôr', -fōr') pronunciation
 
n.

A sleeveless garment similar to an apron, worn especially by small girls as a dress or an overdress.

[PIN + AFORE (so called because formerly pinned to the front of the dress).]


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WordNet: pinafore
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a sleeveless dress resembling an apron; worn over other clothing
  Synonyms: jumper, pinny


 
Wikipedia: Pinafore
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This article is about the apron; see also pinafore dress
Girl wearing a white pinafore over her dress (about 1910).

A pinafore (colloquially pinny in British English) is a sleeveless garment worn as an apron.

Pinafores may be worn by girls as a decorative garment and by both girls and women as a protective apron. A related term is pinafore dress, which is British English for what in American English is known as a jumper dress, i.e. a sleeveless dress intended to be worn over a top or blouse. A key difference between a pinafore and a jumper dress is that the pinafore is open in the back. In informal British usage however, a pinafore dress is sometimes referred to as simply a pinafore, which can lead to confusion.

The name reflects that the pinafore was formerly pinned (pin) to the front (afore) of a dress. The pinafore had no buttons, was simply "pinned on the front" which led to the term "pinafore."

Differentiations

Pinafores are often confused with smocks. Some languages do not differentiate between these different garments. The pinafore differs from a smock in that it does not have sleeves and there is no back to the bodice. Smocks have both sleeves and a full bodice, both front and back.

A pinafore is a full apron with two holes for the arms that is tied or buttoned in the back, usually just below the neck. Pinafores have complete front shaped over shoulder while aprons usually have no [bib], or only a smaller one. A child's garment to wear at school or for play would be a pinafore.

Further confusion results from some foreign languages, which, unlike English, do not have a distinctive term for the pinafore. In German, for example, there is no precise term for pinafore. Schürze means "apron" and thus Kinderschürze is used to describe a child's apron or pinafore.

In modern times, the term "pinny" has taken another meaning in sports clothes, namely a double-sided short apron, often made of mesh, used to differentiate teams. This usage is chiefly British.

History

The pinafore was a type of apron that was pinned over the dress and easily removed for washing. Buttons were frequently damaged with lye cleaning products, which was one reason why dresses were not laundered very often.

Pinafores in popular culture

H.M.S. Pinafore, a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, uses the word in its title as a comical name for a warship.

Alice, the eponymous heroine of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, wore a pinafore over her blue dress in John Tenniel's illustrations.

A song and album title by the English art rock group Stackridge is called Pinafore Days.

Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, known for the Pippi Longstocking series, created a character, Madicken, who is often portrayed as wearing a pinafore.


 
Translations: Pinafore
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - forklæde

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    forklædekjole

Nederlands (Dutch)
schort

Français (French)
n. - tablier, blouse

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    robe chasuble

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schürze

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    Trägerrock

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - παιδική ποδιά, γυναικεία ποδιά

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    έξωμο φόρεμα

Italiano (Italian)
grembiule

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    grembiulino

Português (Portuguese)
n. - avental (m) para crianças

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    vestido sem mangas

Русский (Russian)
фартук

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    сарафан

Español (Spanish)
n. - delantal, babero

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    falda con peto

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - förkläde

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
围嘴, 无袖连衫裙, 围兜, 围裙

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    无袖连衣裙, 学生裙, 围裙

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 圍嘴, 無袖連衫裙, 圍兜, 圍裙

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    無袖連衣裙, 學生裙, 圍裙

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 앞치마

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - エプロン, エプロンドレス

idioms:

  • pinafore dress    エプロンドレス

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مئزر للأطفال‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סינר‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pinafore" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more