Drone
English Meaning
The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers no honey. See Honeybee.
- 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.
- 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.
- To utter in a monotonous low tone: "The mosquitoes droned their angry chant” ( W. Somerset Maugham).
- A continuous low humming or buzzing sound.
- Music Any of the pipes of a bagpipe that lack finger holes and produce a single tone.
- Music A long sustained tone.
- Music Any of various instruments that produce only a constant pitch.
