The Collaborative International Dictionary
To be tied to a wife's apron strings
Apron string \A"pron string`\ The string of an apron.
To be tied to a wife's apron strings or To be tied to a mother's apron strings, to be unduly controlled by a wife or mother.
He was so made that he could not submit to be tied
to the apron strings even of the best of wives.
--Macaulay.