“Coffee, the favorite drink of the civilized world.” – Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States
DRONE
drone
(noun) stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
drone, drone pipe, bourdon
(noun) a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone
drone, pilotless aircraft, radio-controlled aircraft
(noun) an aircraft without a pilot that is operated by remote control
monotone, drone, droning
(noun) an unchanging intonation
dawdler, drone, laggard, lagger, trailer, poke
(noun) someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind
drone, drone on
(verb) talk in a monotonous voice
drone
(verb) make a monotonous low dull sound; “The harmonium was droning on”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
drone (plural drones)
A male ant, bee or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen bee.
(now rare) Someone who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.
One who performs menial or tedious work.
Synonym: drudge
(colloquial, aviation) A remotely controlled aircraft, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Synonyms: UAV, UAS
Hyponym: quadcopter
Usage notes
• In sense “unmanned aircraft”, primarily used informally of military aircraft or consumer radio controlled quadcopters, without precise definition.
Verb
drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)
(transitive, colloquial) To kill with a missile fired by unmanned aircraft.
Etymology 2
Verb
drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)
To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz.
To speak in a monotone way.
Noun
drone (plural drones)
A low-pitched hum or buzz.
(musical instrument) One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.
(music genre, uncountable) A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.
A humming or deep murmuring sound.
Anagrams
• Doner, Roden, doner, nerdo, orned, redon, renod, ronde
Proper noun
Drone (plural Drones)
A surname.
Statistics
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Drone is the 27783rd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 865 individuals. Drone is most common among White (64.05%) and Black/African American (31.79%) individuals.
Anagrams
• Doner, Roden, doner, nerdo, orned, redon, renod, ronde
Source: Wiktionary
Drone, n. Etym: [OE. drane a dronebee, AS. dran; akin to OS. dran, OHG. treno, G. drohne, Dan. drone, cf. Gr. Drone, v. i.]
1. (Zoöl.)
Definition: The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers no honey. See Honeybee. All with united force combine to drive The lazy drones from the laborious hive. Dryden.
2. One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard. By living as a drone,to be an unprofitable and unworthy member of so noble and learned a society. Burton.
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.
4. A humming or deep murmuring sound. The monotonous drone of the wheel. Longfellow.
5. (Mus.)
Definition: A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.
Drone, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Droned; p. pr. & vb. n. Droning.] Etym: [Cf. (for sense 1) D. dreunen, G. dröhnen, Icel. drynja to roar, drynr a roaring, Sw. dröna to bellow, drone, Dan. dröne, Goth. drunjus sound, Gr. dhran to sound. Cf. Drone, n.]
1. To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or murmuring sound. Where the beetle wheels his droning flight. T. Gray.
2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. "Race of droning kings." Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
18 April 2024
MOTIVE
(adjective) impelling to action; “it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function”- Arthur Pap; “motive pleas”; “motivating arguments”
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