apron-string hold

obsolete A property or estate owned by a woman but controlled by her husband during her life and then by her family after her death. He has a vast property; it is but an apron-string hold, though, and he shall be dispossessed of it when she passes. I wouldn't be too impressed—Michael only has an apron-string hold on this beautiful estate. That property will come back into our family when my sister passes away—her husband only has an apron-string hold on it.