chaperone

Etymology

See chaperon.

noun

1. An older person who accompanies other younger people to ensure the propriety of their behaviour, often an older woman accompanying a young woman.
2. (biochemistry) A protein that assists the non-covalent folding/unfolding and the assembly/disassembly of other macromolecular structures, but does not occur in these structures when the latter are performing their normal biological functions.
3. (UK, business) An employee sent by a British company to the European Union to work with a client there, to circumvent restrictions imposed after Brexit.

verb

1. To act as a chaperone.
   'Purcell had volunteered to chaperone a delegation of female students' 17 April 2006, The New Yorker, page 27
   TfL has more than enough to be getting on with each day without having to chaperone TV crews. June 30 2021, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, pages 48–49
2. (UK, business) To work as a chaperone.