Drone definition | Dictionary.com

drone

1 [drohn]

–noun

1.	the male of the honeybee and other bees, stingless and making no honey.

2.	a remote control mechanism, as a radio-controlled airplane or boat.

3.	a person who lives on the labor of others; parasitic loafer.

a drudge.

Origin:
bef. 1000; 1945–50 for def. 2; ME drone, drane, OE dran, dron; akin to OHG treno, G Drohne

Related forms:

dronish, adjective

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drone

2 [drohn]

verb, droned, dron⋅ing, noun

–verb (used without object)

1.	to make a dull, continued, low, monotonous sound; hum; buzz.

2.	to speak in a monotonous tone.

3.	to proceed in a dull, monotonous manner (usually fol. by on): The meeting droned on for hours.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to say in a dull, monotonous tone.

–noun

Music.

a.	a continuous low tone produced by the bass pipes or bass strings of musical instruments.

b.	the pipes (esp. of the bagpipe) or strings producing this tone.

c.	a bagpipe equipped with such pipes.

6.	a monotonous low tone; humming or buzzing sound.

7.	a person who speaks in a monotonous tone.

Origin:
1490–1500; see drone ¹ and cf. ME droun to roar, Icel drynja to bellow, Goth drunjus noise

Related forms:

droner, noun

dron⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Drone

drone¹ (drōn)

A male bee, especially a honeybee, that is characteristically stingless, performs no work, and produces no honey. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee.
An idle person who lives off others; a loafer.
A person who does tedious or menial work; a drudge: "undervalued drones who labored in obscurity" (Caroline Bates).
A pilotless aircraft operated by remote control.

[Middle English, from Old English drān.]

drone² (drōn)

v. droned, dron·ing, drones

v. intr.

To make a continuous low dull humming sound: "Somewhere an electric fan droned without end" (William Styron).
To speak in a monotonous tone: The lecturer droned on for hours.
To pass or act in a monotonous way.

v. tr.
To utter in a monotonous low tone: "The mosquitoes droned their angry chant" (W. Somerset Maugham).
n.

A continuous low humming or buzzing sound.
Music
1. Any of the pipes of a bagpipe that lack finger holes and produce a single tone.
2. A long sustained tone.
3. Any of various instruments that produce only a constant pitch.

[From drone¹ (from the bee's humming sound).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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. (Zo["o]l.) 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.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.

Drone

Drone\, 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.

Where the beetle wheels his droning flight. --T. Gray.

2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. "Race of droning kings." --Dryden.

Language Translation for : Drone

Spanish: zángano,

German: die Drohne,

Japanese: 雄蜂

More Translations »

drone

In military usage, a pilotless aircraft used for reconnaissance and, more recently, for launching aerial attacks.

drone

n. Ignorant sales or customer service personnel in computer or electronics superstores. Characterized by a lack of even superficial knowledge about the products they sell, yet possessed of the conviction that they are more competent than their hacker customers. Usage: "That video board probably sucks, it was recommended by a drone at Fry's" In the year 2000, their natural habitats include Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, and CompUSA.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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drone (n.)

O.E. dran, dræn "male honeybee," from P.Gmc. *dran-, probably imitative; given a figurative sense of "idler, lazy worker" (male bees make no honey) c.1529; the verb in the sound sense is c.1500, apparently imitative. Meaning "pilotless aircraft" is from 1946.

drone (drōn) Pronunciation Key
A male bee, especially a honeybee whose only function is to fertilize the queen. Drones have no stingers, do no work, and do not produce honey.

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