drone Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
  2. noun an unchanging intonation
    droning; monotone.
  3. noun someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind
    poke; dawdler; laggard; lagger; trailer.
  4. noun an aircraft without a pilot that is operated by remote control
    pilotless aircraft; radio-controlled aircraft.
  5. noun a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone
    bourdon; drone pipe.
  6. verb make a monotonous low dull sound
    • The harmonium was droning on
  7. verb talk in a monotonous voice
    drone on.

WordNet

Drone noun
Etymology
OE. drane a dronebee, AS. dran; akin to OS. dran, 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.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) 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 intransitive verb
Etymology
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. dirge, to cry aloud, Skr. dhran to sound. Cf. Drone, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Droned ; present participle & verbal noun Droning
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913