chaperon

UK: /ˈʃæpərəʊn/ US: /ˈʃæpəˌroʊn/ ,(shap′ə rōn′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

chap•er•on or chap•er•one/ˈʃæpəˌroʊn/   n., v., -oned, -on•ing. 
n. [countable]

1. a person, usually an older woman, who accompanies a young unmarried woman in public.
2. a person who attends a party or dance for young people to supervise their behavior.

v. 

3. to attend or accompany as chaperon:
   [~ + object] The high school teachers chaperoned the dance.
4. to act as a chaperon:
   [no object] asked the teachers if they would chaperon.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

chap•er•on  (shap′ə rōn′), n. 

1. a person, usually a married or older woman, who, for propriety, accompanies a young unmarried woman in public or who attends a party of young unmarried men and women.
2. any adult present in order to maintain order or propriety at an activity of young people, as at a school dance.
3. Clothing a round headdress of stuffed cloth with wide cloth streamers that fall from the crown or are draped around it, worn in the 15th century.

v.t. 

4. to attend or accompany as chaperon.

v.i. 

5. to act as chaperon.

Also, chaperone. 

• French (18th century)
• Anglo-French, Middle French: hood, cowl, equivalent. to chape cape¹ + -eron noun, nominal suffix; figurative sense
• 1350–1400; Middle English

chap•er•on•age  (shap′ə rō′nij), n.  chap′er•on′less, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1, 4. escort.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

chaperon, chaperone / ˈʃæpəˌrəʊn/ noun

1. (esp formerly) an older or married woman who accompanies or supervises a young unmarried woman on social occasions

verb

1. to act as a chaperon to

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French, from chape hood, protective covering; see cap¹

chaperonage / ˈʃæpərənɪdʒ/ noun