variants:
or less commonly chaperon
Definition of chaperone
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: a person (such as a matron) who for propriety (see propriety sense 2) accompanies one or more young unmarried women in public or in mixed company
2
: an older person who accompanies young people at a social gathering to ensure proper behavior
broadly
: one delegated to ensure proper behavior
I was a chaperone on one of my son's class trips.
3
: any of a class of proteins (such as heat-shock proteins) that facilitate the proper folding of proteins by binding to and stabilizing unfolded or partially folded proteins
— called also molecular chaperone
chaperone
verb
variants:
or less commonly chaperon
chaperoned; chaperoning
Definition of chaperone (Entry 2 of 2)
1
: escort
2
: to act as chaperone to or for
chaperone a dance chaperoning teenagers
: to act as a chaperone
Two parents chaperoned at the school dance.
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Time Traveler for chaperone
The first known use of chaperone was in 1720
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