Meaning of apron-string hold | Babel Free

Definitions

An estate held by a man during his wife's life.

idiomatic, informal, obsolete

Examples

“He resided at Staleck and the fief made was converted into an "apron-string hold" and hereditary fief, for the benefit of his wife and daughter; for that in opposition to the Emperor himself, he had remained firm to the Archbishop in a Diet held at Mainz.”

CEFR level