'Drone' definitions:
Definition of 'drone'
From: WordNet
noun
Stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
noun
noun
Someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind [syn: dawdler, drone, laggard, lagger, trailer, poke]
noun
An aircraft without a pilot that is operated by remote control [syn: drone, pilotless aircraft, radio- controlled aircraft]
noun
A pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone [syn: drone, drone pipe, bourdon]
verb
Make a monotonous low dull sound; "The harmonium was droning on"
verb
Talk in a monotonous voice [syn: drone, drone on]
Definition of 'Drone'
From: GCIDE
- Drone \Drone\ (dr[=o]n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Droned; p. pr. & vb. n. Droning.] [Cf. (for sense 1) D. dreunen, G. dr["o]hnen, Icel. drynja to roar, drynr a roaring, Sw. dr["o]na to bellow, drone, Dan. dr["o]ne, Goth. drunjus sound, Gr. ? dirge, ? to cry aloud, Skr. dhran to sound. Cf. Drone, n.]
- 1. To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or murmuring sound. [1913 Webster]
- Where the beetle wheels his droning flight. --T. Gray. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. "Race of droning kings." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Drone'
From: GCIDE
- Drone \Drone\, n. [OE. drane a dronebee, AS. dr[=a]n; akin to OS. dr[=a]n, OHG. treno, G. drohne, Dan. drone, cf. Gr. ? a kind of wasp, dial. Gr. ? drone. Prob. named fr. the droning sound. See Drone, v. i.]
- 1. (Zool.) The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers no honey. See Honeybee. [1913 Webster]
- All with united force combine to drive The lazy drones from the laborious hive. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 2. One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard. [1913 Webster]
- By living as a drone,to be an unprofitable and unworthy member of so noble and learned a society. -- Burton. [1913 Webster]
- 3. That which gives out a grave or monotonous tone or dull sound; as: (a) A drum. [Obs.] Halliwell. (b) The part of the bagpipe containing the two lowest tubes, which always sound the key note and the fifth. [1913 Webster]
- 4. A humming or deep murmuring sound. [1913 Webster]
- The monotonous drone of the wheel. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
- 5. (Mus.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'drone'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- accompaniment,
- alliteration,
- alto,
- array,
- articulation,
- assonance,
- bagpipe,
- bagpipes,
- bank,
- baritone,
- bass,
- basso continuo,
- basso ostinato,
- bassus,
- bee,
- beggar,
- birr,
- blubber,
- bombilate,
- bombinate,
- boom,
- bourdon,
- bum,
- bumble,
- bumblebee,
- bummer,
- burden,
- burr,
- buzz,
- cadger,
- canto,
- cantus,
- cantus figuratus,
- cantus planus,
- catena,
- catenation,
- chain,
- chain reaction,
- chaining,
- chanter,
- chest voice,
- chime,
- clockwork regularity,
- coloratura,
- concatenation,
- connection,
- consecution,
- constancy,
- continue the same,
- continuo,
- continuum,
- contralto,
- cornemuse,
- coupon clippers,
- course,
- cycle,
- daily round,
- dawdle,
- dawdler,
- descant,
- descent,
- dingdong,
- doodlesack,
- drag along,
- drag on,
- drone bass,
- droning,
- endless belt,
- endless round,
- even pace,
- even tenor,
- falsetto,
- figured bass,
- file,
- filiation,
- foot-dragger,
- freeloader,
- gabble,
- gamut,
- gibber,
- gibbering,
- goldbrick,
- goof-off,
- gradation,
- ground bass,
- harping,
- head voice,
- honeybee,
- hornet,
- hum,
- humdrum,
- idle rich,
- Indian file,
- invariability,
- jabber,
- jibber,
- jingle,
- jingle-jangle,
- laggard,
- lallygag,
- laze,
- leisure class,
- lie-abed,
- line,
- lineage,
- lingerer,
- loaf,
- loiter,
- loiterer,
- loll,
- lounge,
- lounge lizard,
- lumpen proletariat,
- maunder,
- maundering,
- mendicant,
- monologue,
- monotone,
- monotonousness,
- monotony,
- moocher,
- mouth,
- mouthing,
- mumble,
- mumbling,
- murmur,
- murmuring,
- musette,
- mutter,
- muttering,
- near rhyme,
- nexus,
- nonworker,
- orderliness,
- panhandler,
- parasite,
- part,
- pendulum,
- periodicity,
- persist,
- pipes,
- pitter-patter,
- plain chant,
- plain song,
- plenum,
- plodder,
- powder train,
- prevail,
- prick song,
- procrastinator,
- progression,
- purr,
- queen,
- queen bee,
- queue,
- range,
- rank,
- recurrence,
- regularity,
- rentiers,
- repeated sounds,
- repetitiousness,
- repetitiveness,
- reticulation,
- rhyme,
- rotation,
- round,
- routine,
- row,
- run,
- run through,
- sameliness,
- sameness,
- scale,
- sequence,
- series,
- single file,
- singsong,
- slant rhyme,
- sleepyhead,
- slow goer,
- slow-foot,
- slowbelly,
- slowpoke,
- slug,
- sluggard,
- smoothness,
- snail,
- sob,
- soprano,
- sordellina,
- speak incoherently,
- spectrum,
- spiv,
- splutter,
- sponger,
- sputter,
- stale repetition,
- stick-in-the-mud,
- string,
- strum,
- succession,
- susurrate,
- susurration,
- swath,
- tedium,
- tenor,
- the unemployable,
- the unemployed,
- thorough bass,
- thread,
- thrum,
- tier,
- tortoise,
- train,
- treadmill,
- treble,
- trot,
- undersong,
- undeviation,
- undifferentiation,
- union pipes,
- unnecessary repetition,
- unvariation,
- voce,
- voce di petto,
- voce di testa,
- voice,
- voice part,
- wasp,
- whir,
- whisper,
- whispering,
- whiz,
- windrow,
- worker,
- yellow jacket